and my heart dropped.

Herman Cain for 2012.

Right now I do not feel comfortable to excited about _any_ of the candidates.

Two years ago I would have said Palin, but I do now.

I am intrigued with Herman Cain, but I know so little.

Heck no to Romney (romney care and gun control) and Huckabee (spending controls).

My preference would be Rick Perry of Texas, but like Pence, he is sitting on the side lines.

New party, inside old party

A 3rd party will not be an issue in 2012.

The only new real threat in 2012 is to the Tea Party movement.

Moderate Democrats forced to moved to the right-left wing of the Republican Party have joined forces with the Social First Conservatives that refuse to move to the right.

This will give the remaining Conservatives the power needed to place who they want in office.

Unless the number of Tea Party members increase ten fold, I fear we will end up with a Fiscal light (Bush) in office for 2012.

We need someone that is just as far to the right fiscally, as Obama was to the left on spending. Unless the Tea Party has total control over who gets elected, this will not happen.

Another Bush will totally crash the economy and guarantee a 3rd Party run in 2016.
That Party will do away with every thing outside of Article I, Section 8 “Powers of Congress”

Wanted, Tea Party members
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/mission.aspx

Representative Pence does not have the experience, or base of support for a run this year in what will be a bloody affair. And the grand prize for hacking and slashing your way through the myriad of entrenched Republican candidates is a heavyweight fight with an incumbent president and the national media.

Pence will have a chance to build an impressive resume in Indiana and run in 2016. Smart move.

to say the least. At least if Pence is able to win a governor election he’ll have the executive experience along with his strong conservative credentials in 2016, provided Obama wins next year.

to say the least. At least if Pence is able to win a governor election he’ll have the executive experience along with his strong conservative credentials in 2016, provided Obama wins next year.

…much discussion not only at RedState but all across the ‘spheres about…executive experience, knowledge, gravitas, baggage, education congeniality, glibness, inspirational qualities, socon, ficon …….gender. It seemed, for a brief moment that, at RedState at least, things were coalescing around Pence. So here it is: in America today, can *anyone* still grow up to be President?

only two that interest me atm

Newt has a book tour coming up. He will make his decision on 2012 after his book tour. Ditto for Tim Pawlenty. Thune and Haley Barbour will decide in the spring. Jon Huntsman is thinking about running. With Pence out for Prez, Daniels might give 2012 a serious look. Are Rudy and Bachmann pretenders or contenders? The 2008 Retreads like Huck, Mitt, and Sarah are taking a later than sooner approach to the 2012 primaries.

Thus for the next couple of months, we can debate until we’re blue in the face over candidates who may or may not run.

…Indiana. Pence will make a great Gov.

Palin 2012
Pence 2020

There is truly a certain something about Mike Pence that a lot of people do not know about. I knew Mike Pence before he became really popular. He lost twice in 1988 and 1990 for a US House seat to the incumbent D, Phil Sharp, The 1990 campaign is the most dirty nasty mud slinging contest I ever saw in Indiana. Mike Pence went thermonuclear in his attack against Phil Sharp for being a dirty rotten scoundrel who stole people’s money in a real estate deal. I mean it got real ugly. After that happened Mike Pence changed his life. Never again was he going to ever fight so dirty to win a political election, and never again did he run to unseat an incumbent. Phil Sharp was defeated in 1994 by David McIntosh, and Mike Pence waited until 2000 to run for that seat when McIntosh vacated it to run for Indiana Governor. Mike Pence is a good conservative, but he is a happy warrior who prefers to run for an open seat than to be talked into running down and dirty against an incumbent.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

MITCH DANIELS!!!!

Just kidding, I understand the reservations people have on him (even if I don’t agree with them). In all seriousness, I’m quite surprised that you haven’t endorsed Herman Cain, who is just about the closest thing that we’ll get to T Sowell or W Williams for President, and who appears to have a political philosophy and resume similar to Pence’s.

By 2016 and beyond, there will be a lot of really good candidates. Rubio, Mike Lee, plus a lot of the newly elected governors like Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Mary Fallon, Scott Walker are all potentially very good candidates.

In a way I think it was now or never for Pence as far as POTUS goes, but he sure will make an excellent governor.

First Erick, if you truly do like Palin as you have stated in the past, then I expect you would actually give her a chance should she decide to run. Every conservative is going to be “radioactive” so we shouldn’t base our decisions on that.

I think Palin is the best conservative candidate that can beat Obama. She has 16 years of executive experience and has been the one figure who has withstood an avanlanche of hate-filled smears yet continues to rip apart Obama over the course of the last two years. Palin has already written multiple pieces of her policy positions (such as dealing with Iran, QE2, energy, and her eloquent response to the SOTU on facebook today).

As for her being “radioactive” and “unelectable” :

The American people will hear from her in the General Election and they will get to see her debate The Media’s Creation. They will be surprised when she wins the debates.

She will win the debates because:
1. The majority agree with her on the policy issues.
2. She will not be trying to defend a putrid record.
3 She will have a firm grasp of the issues.
4. She’s not afraid to point out that The Emperor Has No Clothes.

At the end of the debates those who had judged Palin without actually seeing her speak about the issues will say WTF and they will not trust the media.

The media will not be able to protect Obama in the General Election.

But I will be able to talk quite a few of them into voting for Herman Cain. I’ve got four of them hooked already.

that your guy is not going to run. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, someone has to be nominated from the GOP. It’s not one of the 5% candidates. I know that many tea partyers, birthers, truthers, and conspiracy theorists are lobbying to bring a candidate in to compete against Barry. We have to nominate someone that can beat Barry in OH, MI, MN, PA, and WI. Think about who that is and report back.

Palin supporters just need to accept the fact that many voters have an irrational dislike of her, and that there’s really nothing she can do about it before 2012. It’s not about policy or her grasp of the issues. “Winning” debates isn’t going to make any difference.

The election is going to be decided in the suburbs, by squishes whose first instict is to re-elect Obama. They won’t even listen to Palin. Another conservative may be able to convince them.

Mike Pence not running is a sad day for conservatives. Now I have sat here & read all this list of so-called conservatives & want to be candidates.

1. Mike lets give FREE college tuition to illegal immigrants Huckabee-he is RINO at best/
2. Good old Mitt Romneycare- says it all
3. Newt adulter Gingrich, many of us older people remember how he deserted dying wives (& yes that is plural) for affairs with younger women, climate change with his good buddy Nancy-to say the least
4. Sarah you betcha Palin-supported TARP, divisive, flamable to say the least, quitter (& please don’t go into the excuses we have heard them all)
5. Herman the fed doesn’t need auditing Cain, oh not to mention “nationalizing banks isn’t so bad” , very strong supporter of TARP
6. Mitch shut-up & sit down you social conservatives Daniel-social issues aren’t important
7. Tim Nice Guy Pawlenty – who I personally like but am realistic to know that he isn’t tough enough to hang
8. Gov Haley Barbour-yes he can play as rough & dirty as obama & Dems want to play, but as Haley himself said, he is too southern to win-even though he was an extremely successful Gov.
9. Gov Rick Perry-since Mike Pence is not running, probably the candidate with the best chance to beat obama because hard to argue with success & make no mistake being elected Gov of Tx 3 times is success & the libs just tried to take him down, like Haley Barbour he can get as nasty as they choice, however, he is not a perfect Conservative but then again he did NOT support TARP or other bailouts.
10. Sen Jim DeMint-I love him & think he would be awesome, except that I don’t trust the RINO side of the GOP. We all saw how they did some of the Conservative candidates in Nov 2010-they bascially sabotoged them & I am afraid that the GOP themselves would cut off their nose to spite their face.
11. Ron Paul-he comes across as a royal nutcase-I am not saying he is so please paul people don’t freak-that is how he comes across to most Americans.

Hermain Cain is sure to recieve an huge uptick in early support. I’m quietly ecstatic.

Pence knows he had zero chance at wining . Which is good, because some like Herman Cain know they have zero chance, and just want put their names in the national spotlight. I like Herman Cain 10 times more than Pence. But I still don’t think he has a chance. Herman Cain would not make it far in the primary race. He lost the 2004 U.S. Senate candidacy race. If he can not win in his home state, where people know him most, he can not win in a national race.

Although disappointed, I respect your decision and appreciate you making it fairly quick and not having it drawn out.

he needs more national exposure so those who don’t follow political news can learn more about him. Roadshows are the best way to travel and meet like minded voters and sway the undecided. Maybe 2016 or 2020 because Pence is still on the short list if he wants it.

2nd Herman Cain as a hopeful for 2012.

He is a smart man, and would make a good President, but the simple fact is that history was against him. The nation hasn’t elected a President directly from the House since James Garfield, and the GOP is in a place where they will want their candidate to be somebody with a job outside of D.C.

He is still young as far as GOP Presidential candidates tend to go. Though the Gen X-ers should be in a powerful position by 2016, there is no reason that he could not make a run as late as 2020.

In the meantime, Mike Pence will make an excellent Governor of Indiana.

See, not just anybody can grow up to be president. You not only have to know a lot of stuff, you have to be really smart and trick people into thinking you know about a lot of other stuff. And if you graciously admit that you don’t know everything, you have to trick people into believing you will appoint people to your administration who do know everything. Because you have to make people super confident that your administration knows everything about everything so that you and your administration can CONTROL EVERYTHING, which is what all of us conservatives want…….isn’t it? Am I missing something here?
Anybody here looking for a ………..patriot?

I am a UK citizen and this is only my second post on redstate. I love the United States and wish her well, but this is by definition an observation from outside the USA.

Mike Pence is a good man, and a solid conservative, IMHO he would make an excellent Governor of Indiana.

I think three important points of political stategy are being missed when Palin is being discussed.

Why does the left fear her?

1/ Demographics. POTUS is a unique office such that people feel they must “identify” with a Presidential candidate in an emotional gut feeling manner. This makes Demographics the core of any presidential run – Sarah Palin is the only potential Republican candidate that can take White working class votes away from Obama. This is in US Football terms is the ability to force a turnover, to take something your opponents had and use it against them.

2/ Fund raising power. If Sarah Palin runs, millions of ordinary Americans will rally to her cause, through the Internet and on the ground. The sheer volume of small individual donations made over the Internet will pour in like a vast storm. In a country the size of the USA only TV, “air power” has the firepower to move undecided voters in the Presidential contest and the effect of turning tight margin down ballot races from defeat to victory.

3/ “Joan of Arc” effect. Sarah touches something deep inside anyone of patriotic, constitutional belief on an emotional level. This ability is just the pure natural Sarah Palin, she has a kind of honest innocence that when she talks about flag and faith reduces people to a choked up state, sometimes even to wiping away the odd tear. This can change the turnout equation and threatens the Democrats in Mid-West States, especially the ones that voted for Hillery Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries.

The other Palin strengths are well known.

Polling Hypothetical questions like candidate support is dependent on the questions asked, and the latest TV coverage. Sarah Palin will have the financial resources to talk over the heads of the main stream media during a presidential campaign, and the sheer guts to HAMMER Obama into Jelly on his putrid record of mass-unemployment and economic stagnation.

Godspeed to Sarah Palin, Redstate and may he watch over all the defenders on the United States Constitution (Both in Uniform overseas and at Home), the greatest Charter of Human freedom in the history of our planet and the very source of American exeptionalism itself.

Unless you know which planet the big O came from? and their’s a lot of people scratching their heads about him now. We need a balance of both groups ( R’s&T’s). Both conservative as it pertains to a Federal & State Government made up of a moral and religious people, and from both groups. 1) is Sarah Palin 2). Thaddeus McCotter. One as President, the fighter. 2.) Two as Vice President, the backup fighter. And this could work if you wanted to switch the positions.. Post your thoughts

we can all express our opinions on the better candidate but why fight to tear down potential candidates for our side before the fight has even begun. We are doing the left’s job for them. We can’t continue to fight among ourselves and expect to win.

We are so sure that our side will win in 2012, we are in danger of shooting ourselves in the foot. We talk of the lack of a deep bench and promptly pick apart newcomers simply because they are not our preferred candidate.

Most of this comes from the old-guard GOP establishment who resent losing control.

The Left are laughing at us.

Examples:

Palin.
She drives the left absolutely nuts. They have been trying to destroy her for years. Our sides response: Some agree with the left’s caricature and spend time trying to persuade everyone that it is correct. She is called a quitter ( and yes, we all know why she resigned). Attacking her will alienate her supporters and further divide the party. This helps the left and is encouraged by them.

(cue the laughter)

O’Donnell
The issue at this point is not could she have won. The point is too many on our side went out of their way trying to prove she couldn’t that they helped the left take the seat. Instead of helping shore her up and get the victory they helped throw the game. By being so upset their guy didn’t win, they made sure she couldn’t.

Who do you think was laughing?

That’s just 2 quick examples.

Debate is needed. We need to examine the candidates but keep an open mind. We are playing a bigger game here.

We don’t need the establishment picking a recycled candidate just because its their turn. We can’t trust the establishment.. they never learn, as evidenced by their trying to ignore the Tea Party, even after November. To them its business as usual.

Just any candidate won’t be good enough against Obama. We need to look at the good and the bad points of candidates but not with the goal of destroying them, but of picking the right one. We need the right candidates and not the default one because we helped the Left thin our field.

Victory will come when the Left is defeated and the Right has learned the right lessons. We are looking to take the GOP and our country back.

I really would like to see a candidate with governoral experience as our nominee as it is most easy to translate that into what it takes to be President.

Pence as Indiana’s governor would have a chance to run in 2016 if we somehow fail to defeat Obama or in 2020 if we do defeat Obama.

I suspect our choices will come down to Romney and Pawlenty (Most of you know I prefer Daniels first and not-Huckabee second) simply based on name recognition and ground game.

I suspect this means Mitch Daniels is running.

That is probably about all we can definitely make of what this means for the field.

He’s been planning appearances around the state and the GOP fundraising machine has already started whipping into gear. I can’t imagine he’d have done that and then reversed course to run for president.

I’m glad — because it means the GOP should be able to hold the governor’s mansion.

But, speaking as somebody who is intimately familiar with the Indiana Republican Party, let me just say that we’ve got a better option here than Mike Pence. That’s nothing against Mike. But this other guy’s a rare gem, IMO.

And I’ll leave it at that.

Mitt Romney.

The Country Club has delivered the verdict on who is NEXT.

What about Jim DeMint?