Let the fight begin !

[tombogan03884]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091114/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans2012



WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin is embarking on a book tour. Tim Pawlenty is building a national political operation. Mitt Romney is weighing in on the recession.

They're all jockeying for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination — even if they won't say so.

Make no mistake: At least a half-dozen Republicans are in the early stages of campaigning for the chance to challenge President Barack Obama in his expected re-election race.

Ultimately, some may decide against running. But, at this point, they're taking steps to position themselves for the GOP nomination fight — and that means courting conservatives critical in primaries, proving they can take on a popular incumbent president and painting a vision for a wayward GOP.

And, of course, gauging their relative strength, visiting early primary states and refusing to rule out official bids.

"It's way too soon" to talk 2012, former New York Gov. George Pataki demurred last week, sounding like a stream of other Republicans trekking through Iowa, while he spoke at a GOP fundraiser for the 2010 midterm election season.

This early, White House aspirants have the advantage of operating a bit outside the media glare. But Washington insiders do notice unforced errors. And while missteps may not hurt them with the public, flubs can hamper them in the long-term hunt for staff, fundraisers and endorsements by raising questions of readiness.

Pawlenty, for instance, caused a stir among insiders recently with a series of bobbles. In one case, the Minnesota governor seemed to suggest that moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who sided with Democrats on Obama's health care reform in a Senate Finance Committee vote, shouldn't be part of the GOP. Pawlenty later made clear that she should.

For now, the field is wide open with 2008 GOP nominee John McCain on the sidelines after his loss to Obama. Republicans are struggling to figure out precisely what they want in their next leader and how to reshape a party facing big challenges following painful national election setbacks in 2006 and 2008.

Consider that Democrats won the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress in 2008 in a friendly political environment. It had turned so sour just one year later that Republicans booted Democrats from power in Virginia and New Jersey.

"The results made clear the American people don't like where the Democrats are trying to take our country," declared Haley Barbour, the Republican Governors Association chairman who will preside over a gathering of GOP governors in Texas next week.

Coming the same week as Palin's book tour, the gathering is certain to feed 2012 buzz — for Barbour and Pawlenty, as well as other possible candidates — if not this time than maybe next — like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Among others said to be flirting with a run are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran in 2008. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has fueled speculation with a visit to Iowa, where he said: "I want a role in where this party is going, where this country is going." Republicans like South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence also are trying to raise their national profiles.

A year before 2012 campaigning begins in earnest, here's a look at the moves some are making:

_Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who resigned as governor of Alaska, is starting a national media tour to promote her book, "Going Rogue." Eager to show her conservative credentials, she recently endorsed grassroots-backed conservative Doug Hoffman over the GOP-supported candidate in an upstate New York congressional race. Hoffman lost but an undeterred Palin told conservative activists, "The cause goes on."
Yes, FQ hates her, thats a plus, She did well with even McCain campaigning against her.
_Pawlenty, who was on McCain's vice presidential short list, decided not to run for a third term as governor. He's been methodically building an expansive political operation with Washington-based campaign veterans while working to raise his national profile and taking on Obama often. Pawlenty is a conservative, but he's tacked even further right recently, including backing Hoffman.
? He backed down on bad mouthing that RINO scat Snowe
_Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who lost to McCain, has kept a lower profile than others. He's carefully chosen when to insert himself into national politics. The former businessman has reappeared at key times to challenge Obama, primarily on economic policy. He's experienced the rigors of a national campaign, but previous charges of flip-flopping could haunt him.
NO ! Weathervane at best, RINO at worst
_Barbour, Mississippi's governor and a former national GOP chairman, ascended to the RGA chairmanship this summer around the time he visited Iowa and New Hampshire. He was credited with helping Republicans win in Virginia and New Jersey, and helping recruit a strong field of 2010 gubernatorial candidates. The question: Does a party with diversity issues want a white Southerner who is a former lobbyist as the party's face?
Comments ?
_Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia known for leading the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress, has been traveling the country talking up Republican rebirth. He tested a stump-sounding speech in Kansas earlier this month, and has emerged as a critic of Obama's health care and economic policy. A leader among conservatives, Gingrich is a perennial flirt with the presidency. But he also carries baggage from his years as a lawmaker.
NO! He backed that RINO in NY's 23rd district that threw her support to the dum

_Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, has spent the past year raising his national profile with a Fox News talk show — "Huckabee" — and radio commentaries called the "Huckabee Report." He's in the midst of a tour for his new book, "A Simple Christmas." A longtime favorite of evangelicals who lifted him to victory in Iowa, this Southern Baptist preacher will be challenged to broaden the scope of his support to the rest of the GOP.
He will not get enough support, no matter what his position.

RED are my comments

[TAB]

if palin gets the nom. we will have 4 more years of BO.  Romeny has a chance, unless the voters fear him being a mormon.

[twyacht]

RIGHT NOW, THEY STILL ALL SUCK ROCKS AND CAN GO POUND POLITICALLY CORRECT SAND!!!!

Thank for letting me yell. I'm much better now.

Exchanging one really ugly pair of shoes for another is what were going to get, however, if Bobo the Clown runs against BHO, I'll vote for him in a minute, just to get rid of the usurping, bowing, no-class, apologizing, socialist, ,.........

sorry,...I'm really better now,....

[2HOW]

I like Palin-Huckabee

[TAB]

I like Palin-Huckabee

palin could not handle running the state with the least population, what makes you think she could handle running the country?

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

I wind up agreeing with TW and TAB here. Palin, particularly after her resignation halfway through her first term, will lose. Rommney on the other hand, while his resume makes him look like the right guy for the times, has that sort of John Kerry smarminess that turns folks off. Its silly to base a vote on thatm but I am not alone when I say there was something about both men that just made me recoil.
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

I wind up agreeing with TW and TAB here. Palin, particularly after her resignation halfway through her first term, will lose. Rommney on the other hand, while his resume makes him look like the right guy for the times, has that sort of John Kerry smarminess that turns folks off. Its silly to base a vote on thatm but I am not alone when I say there was something about both men that just made me recoil.
FQ13

And there is our enlightened view from the Professor who voted for Butt licker Barry.
And the fact that he and TAB are on the same page pretty much clinches it.

Bobby Jindal was mentioned in the article as well, it said he was NOT going to seek a 3rd term as Gov. of La.

[fightingquaker13]

And there is our enlightened view from the Professor who voted for Butt licker Barry.
And the fact that he and TAB are on the same page pretty much clinches it.

Bobby Jindal was mentioned in the article as well, it said he was NOT going to seek a 3rd term as Gov. of La.

Tell me that "multiple choice Mitt" doesn't remind you of a used car salesman and I'll take the hit. As far as Jindal, he has my respect for being a damn smart guy. He does need to brush up on his public speaking skills, if his speech in response to Obama was any measure. He is someone that I would take a long look at though. I would say the same from Ginrigich. Newt has grown up a lot since 1994. At the time, he forgot that winning the revolution was more fun than governing afterwards. He seems to have learned that lesson. He is also a keen student of history, something I think is a key quality in any President.
FQ13 

[twyacht]

Do I think a Palin-Huckabee or whatever would be better? Better than the current POTUS & VP?

Yes. I also believe we can send a message to the career politicians, the RINO's, the far-left, the far-right, the whole lot of them a message this time.

of the people, by the people, for the people.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Well the D.C. crowd of both parties forgot it.

The inside the beltway crowd has become too wrapped up in itself. It's time to "unwrap" them and bring them all back down to the foundations of good economic policy, and Vote The Bums Out!

Local, State, and at the Fed level; Not one incumbent gets my vote. I wish there was term limits on the lot of them.

I don't want the lesser of two evils in an election. But I am dreaming to think the vast majority of the sheeple will rise up against the status quo.

That's the only way to get their attention. In small numbers, we are discredited, mocked and coined a "fringe" element.

9/12 Project, Tea-Party Groups, Town Hall "radicals"...

Jindal is like a good speaking Palin, smooth with little international experience. Mitt is the consumate politician who knows who butters his expensive bread. Newt made and makes mistakes but has something of a global knowledge and how it effects America.

BUT, (there's always a but.)

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
Daniel Webster

[TAB]

And there is our enlightened view from the Professor who voted for Butt licker Barry.
And the fact that he and TAB are on the same page pretty much clinches it.

Bobby Jindal was mentioned in the article as well, it said he was NOT going to seek a 3rd term as Gov. of La.

so tell me, why is palin so great?  I asked you this Q in another thread, and you never replyed too it.