I just hope, come the time, we will get a strong GOP candidate. We need to work together to get Obama out. Does nobody think Bobby Jindal is a possibility? Even if not, this is supposed to be a poll for OUR CHOICE of candidate, not who will actually run. John Bolton? Seriously?

And I can’t wait for the Paul people’s heads to explode. Or do they stay away from redstate? I think the current vote tally is more representative of redstate readers than later on when all the candidates flood the poll with supporters. #1 – Palin, #2 – Pence

They are awake. They have created the HermanatorPAC.com to recruit volunteers. I volunteered and told them I want him on the 2012 ticket no matter what.

I still want Herman Cain on the 2012 ticket.

I think pairing up of Mike Pence and Herman Cain would an exellent choice.

Of course, Sarah Palin and Herman Cain would be an excellent choice, too.

I’d vote for Sarah Palin, too but I think Mike Pence would make a good President.

Mike Pence, that is!

Draft Mike Pence 2012! Facebook Page

I am a conservative and I believe that Palin stands for the right things, but she is unelectable. If you want to ensure that Obama win another term run Palin. Don’t believe me, look at the left their clamoring for her to run, and why? Because she is Obama only chance of victory.

nt

Haley Barbour—–Bolton——-Bolton
John Bolton
Herman Cain——Cain (mainly b/c I know jack about Daniels, heh)
Mitch Daniels
Newt Gingrich—–Gingrich—–?!?! Gingalin?
Mike Huckabee
Sarah Palin——–Palin
Tim Pawlenty
Mike Pence——–Pence——–Ah hell. Sanpencorum
Rick Perry
MItt Romney——-Santorum
Rick Santorum

Well, I was able to narrow it down to 5… Maybe if I reorder.
Bolton——–Great foreign policy… domestic?
Gingrich—–Has he stopped supporting Scozzafavas?
Pence——–SEEMS to be a good, honest, conservative
Palin———-Like her, love the lefty fear she inspires.
Santorum—Just plain like him.

This is way tougher than I thought it would be.

love it. Hope you do not mind if I use it on the sites I irritate with my presence especially when the Mo-Rons show up.

Palin 29%, Pence 21% — way ahead of other contenders.

This seems valid.

Run, Mike, Run. Romney can be Head of Treasury, we need you to wage war on the left.

I had been voting for Pence, but recent news has left me all but convinced that he’s going to jump to IN-Gov and not the very long shot that Prez would be. So I’m back on the market, as it were. I voted for Newt this time – he’d be my dream Prez out of this set, I just don’t think he’s electable. I’ll probably go with T-Paw or Daniels; whichever one winds up looking like they have some traction. I can’t say I’m excited, though. Reminds me of 1996 – I honestly can’t remember who I supported, but I sure wasn’t enthusiastic. I’ll have to wait for the Rubio VEEP pick to get excited.

Also, can no one imagine Haley Barbour getting any traction? Too southern for most of you? To establishment, despite his conservative credentials? (Perhaps he’s just too Fred Thompson-ish)

I freely admit that much of my perspective is a convergence of circumstance, personality, and a feeling that there is really no one other than her that so perfectly speaks for me.

The events swirling around her crystallize the enormity of the challenge we face as a nation in my mind. She flushes the Left out for all to see, better than George W. Bush ever did, and she does it with a smile on her face and goodness in her heart.

Whether it is in our future for her to become President or not, this is her time to lead – in or out of office – and I am willing to follow.

Aside from how I’ve come to this adoration, the fact remains that everything she stands for and everything the Left hates her for strikes a perfectly resonating chord for me. I would follow her into battle.

…of the above!

Sorry guys, but the idea not to put an “other” or “none” is seriously flawed.

Christie?
Rubio?
Ryan?

Sure, they may not have announced. But you’re playing right into the GOP establishment cycle.

The Tea party needs to complete the take over of the Republican party. They can do that if enough of YOU get out there and attend your County GOP meetings! Boring???? No way! Not with YOU there! and take your family, friends and neighbors! Vote for each other as delegates to the District and State Conventions! get on the Executive, Rules, and Candidate Selection Committees! Because th they will decide how the party is ran. Go to the National Convention as a delegate because THOSE are THE people who WILL decide WHO the GOP nominee IS!

Pence is easily the most balanced of all the choices. By that I mean he contains something that is easily likeable to all wings of both the Republican Party and the Tea Party.

He is authentic, principled yet NOT polarizing, without baggage, charismatic, and CONSISTANT-in a country where we have no clue on earth how our politicians are going to vote (for Gods sake-Lamar Alexander is voting in favor of START!) there is no questioning where somebody like Pence falls in the spectrum… he voted against TARP, the Obama Stimulus, and this most recent tax compromise. He would, better then almost anybody, offer the greatest contrast to Obama and in the most positive of ways.

Frankly, Mike Pence would offer supporters of the “right,” their best opportunity in over 20 years to seeing something Reaganesque in the White House.

His only drawback is experience… if elected to the highest office in the land, he would be the first President-Elect to come directly from the U.S. House since the latter part of the nineteenth century. From both a financial standpoint in regards to the ability to draw money, and from a debate standpoint where that kind of inexperience could be a liability (al though he has served a decade in Congress, which is longer then Obama served in the U.S. Senate), it is really the only negative drawback Pence has.

Sadly, I am beginning to fear that Pence will go the Governor route as opposed to the Presidency route. In that case, we are all going to, in some manner, have to bite the bullet in regards to who is chosen to represent the Republican Party in 2012 as the candidate, to a noticeable degree, would either go against the values of a conservative movement, or would be a HIGH LIABILITY in a general election.

I will briefly go down the line speaking from the point of view of an Independent voter (which I am) who is socially moderate (but leans more to the right then the left) and VERY conservative on matters of both economics and foreign policy:

Barbour: I dont think Independent voters will gladly embrace a good ole in your face Southern lobbyist boy who could act as something of a stereotype for what some mainstream voters expect a Republican to be. He would be a great liability for the GOP in 2012.

Bolton-Excellent foreign policy credentials, but then what? And what is his base? Where will his funding come from? How might he do in a debate?

Hermain Cain-Experience serving directly in politics? Coming in 2nd during a 2004 GOP Primary in GA for the U.S. Senate. Nice man, but outside of grassroots support, where’s the beef? And how well does anyone expect him to play to an Independent voter?

Mitch Daniels-Recently former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi stated on Fox news that Mitch Daniels would present a big problem for Barack Obama in 2012 if he received the nomination, and I agree. Practically everything the man has touched in Indiana has turned to gold as he has made the state more efficient with LESS spending, turned deficits back into positives, and has provided a model for neighboring states to adhere to in order to get themselves out of financial trouble. There are 3 serious drawbacks to Daniels, however:

1-Charisma. The man is a cross between James Madison and Harry Truman as he is 5 foot 7 in boots, has a 1999 Rudy G comb over, and is as plain spoken as the most simple of simplistic men.

2-Social Stance-The man recently called for a “truce” when concerning social issues. Al though this would play GREAT to Independent voters in a general election, many of my fellow Red-Staters would have to swallow hard voting for a man who does not, at the moment, seem to put much thought into religion, abortion, and or family values.

3-RINO credentials. Al though Daniels has gone a long way in proving he knows how to move a state government towards a smaller role, the fact that he has not come out against a VAT and is W’s former OMB Director should give great pause to any fiscal conservative.

Newt-Probably the best equipped to have an actual debate with Obama (frankly, Newt would slaughter him). However, the baggage attached to Gingrich is just far too powerful to overcome. While he might really speak to conservative values, if your #1 goal is to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, unless the country suddenly begins to value actual policy debate more then a character debate, Newt has no chance of winning.

Huckabee-Wow. I cant think of any other potential 2012 nominee who I am more split on. On one hand, while Newt would fare the best in an overall debate with Obama, Huckabee not only comes in a close second, but the man, better then practically anybody, could best articulate the shortcomings of an Obama presidency in under 2 minutes. In addition, The Huckster is a genuinely likeable individual who is high on personality. Finally, the man has a track record of being against deficit spending and left his state of Arkansas with a ten figure budget surplus when he left the office of Governor.

However… just ask any member of the Cato Institute to surmise Huckabee in 3 words and they will describe him as so: “devil in carnate.” Al though Mike might not be a deficit spender, he is still a spender… a BIG spender! He has recently tried to align himself with the Tea Party, but his spending habits seem to lie in direct contrast to what I feel the spirit of the Tea Party is-reduced spending and overall government. Nothing about Huckabee strikes me as something other then a BIG government Bush-like Republican. In addition, the man has a brutal history of being “pardon-happy,” with Arkansas inmates. Unfortunately for Huckabee, one such pardon/act of clemency might end up costing him dearly as Willie Horton ended up costing Michael Dukakis in 1988 (in this case, I am speaking of Maurice Clemmons who shot 4 WA officers just a few years ago, years after being pardoned by Huckabee).

Finally (and this complaint is something of an odd one, so please follow me here), Huckabee is defined by his Baptist religious beliefs and that comes out VERY strongly to those watching him.

What is wrong with that?

Does anybody remember the primaries of 2008 and how Huckabee chose to run that campaign? To an Independent there was something uncomfortable with the way Huckabees campaign came across. It was half political, and half Baptist sermon. Obviously a politician can be religious and win a campaign (i.e. Reagan), but there are limits to how much religion can be injected into a campaign presentation without scaring off centrist voters. I worry about Huckabee crossing that line.

Sarah Palin-I know I might get into some trouble here from a lot of people on RedState, but Sarah frankly scares the hell out of me, and I will explain why. Outside of her lack of experience, she has come across too strongly as being intellectual unfit for the job. Now I am NOT saying she is dumb. She actually seems like a very bright individual, but if any candidate is going to have a chance debating Barack Obama, they need to exhibit not just a fundamental understanding of the issues, but a near authority-like presence on the issues. Sadly (and a lot of this is the doing of the MSM) a stereotype has evolved where Sarah Palin is no authority on any political issue.

In addition, I worry about the damage she could do to the Republican party. Al though I am an Independent, I vote Republican about 80% of the time as it is the party that most reflects my beliefs. I worry that if she were to win, unless she were to command a Reagan or Clinton like presidency where the victories far outweighed the defeats, I fear she might end up doing more long term damage to the GOP then George W Bush almost did (thankfully, Obama followed Bush, so the GOP has gotten a reprieve-lol).

Just too polarizing a figure, and, again, if your #1 goal is to defeat Barack Obama, the odds off accomplishing that are far worst with Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket.

Tim Pawlenty-Personality is just like his record as Governor: lackluster. Not enough there to capture a majority of voters.

Rick Perry-If it were not for George W Bush ruining it for almost every Texan for a good generation, Perry would be a nice secondary choice. However, as it stands, even if he decided to run (which he wont) the new head of the RGA would have that Texas “stigma” to him.

Mitt Romney-Oh boy. This is the one that has the potential to really split the GOP. On one hand, if he ran in a general election against Obama, he would stand a 50/50 chance. On the other hand, the man is the purest example of a RINO you will ever find. The very fact that he provided the very model for Obamacare with his own state run version of mandated health care is enough to make most Tea Partiers, conservatives, and center right Indy voters (like me) throw up. In addition, there is something VERY Charlie Cristish to this man. After watching him closely for over 4 years, I still have no clue on earth just where the hell this man stands on practically ANYTHING! The term “vague” and “wishy-washy” come to mind. If this were the GOP nominee, this isn’t just a .22 caliber bullet we would have to bite down on, but a damn shotgun shell.

Rick Santorum-Personally I like the guy, but when you lose your Senate seat by high double digits and have practically, compared to others, no base, you just don’t recover from things like that. This would be a weak candidate.

There is no such thing as a perfect candidate, but there is such a thing as a balanced candidate that can speak to all walks of political life. Sadly, I don’t see much “balanced” depth outside of Mike Pence, so we all might have to prepare ourselves to gulp deep and hard when 2012 comes around in order to achieve the ultimate prize-a 2012 Barack Obama defeat.

The repeated falsehood that Herman Cain is using his Radio show to encourage his listeners to come here and vote for him is completely without merit and needs to be silenced once and for all.

The simple fact is… Herman hasn’t been on the radio since last Friday! Also Herman is on from 7PM – 10PM Eastern not exactly the times people were accusing him of driving traffic! Here’s a link to the show’s achieve http://feeds.wsbradio.com/TheNewHermanCainShow

I guess just making stuff up about people in order to cheer-lead for your guy or gal is not limited to Liberals – that’s a shame!!!

Herman has used twitter and supporters (like me) have used other social media to inform followers of the poll and if other candidates aren’t well shame on them as I’ve said in other threads if RS wanted this to be a RS Members only poll they could have easily done so!

here come the Cainites!

No matter what, she can’t get over 29% of the votes.

Obviously, what we need to do is surgically join Cain(20%); Pence(15%); Romney(8%) and Daniels(7%) and bingo we gots 50%!

A big plus is that at least one of their 8 arms could throw a baseball to home plate.

I do not know if she is electable, but she is clearly polarizing. While I like her (have not heard/read everything she’s said), if there is even a small chance this quality means 4 more years of you know who, and I have to wonder if it does, I’ll take a safer and less controversial choice [someone competent with some proven track record].

Obama’s just must not be saved nor re-created. That we can all agree on. If Palin won the nomination, she’d lose to the liberal hate machine because the media abc, nbc, cbs, cnn and Pmsnbc are all colluding with the news these days and they will push the nation against Palin giving Obama a victory.

These polls are cute for now but seriously, if Palin wants a new career in politics her best bet is to run for the House or Senate and re-establish herself or she should pursue a Cabinet or sub cabinet job if a republican wins in 2012. She’d be great at the Dept. of Interior or as a Reform Czar going after liberal corruption………plenty of thugs who need to be taken out. Sorry guys and girls but we’ve got to be honest with ourselves because Obama could have up to ONE BILLION in campaign funds. We all know a lot of the money was illegal but do the corrupt liberal media care about FEC laws or investigative journalism. No, so we’ve got to choose wisely early on and circle up wagons for the fight to take our country back!

Our best choices are Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour and Mike Huckaby if he’s gonna run. Beyond those men, Mike Pence is favorable as is Santorum but they are not as well known nationally so they’ve got a lot of work to do.

so I can vote AGAINST Newt.

He is the prototype “professional” politician, the antithesis of Herman and Sarah. Lick a finger and stick it in the air, that’s ol’ Newt.

Lick-it-and-stick-it.

He supports a statewide smoking ban.

http://www.thestatecolumn.com/blog/category/indiana-politics-2/

Wheather you are a smoker or not, or agree with it or not, you should consider that any government official who would support banning anything should be looked at a little more critically. Would he support Moochelles dessert ban, or sugary drink ban, or the salt ban? Isn’t it supposed to be about the freedom to choose for oneself. Do we need the nanny state telling us what we can do or not?

She’d never win a debate, Newt is a book of facts and he’s well versed in the world of politics. He may not be perfect but no candidate ever is but Obama could never beat Newt in a debate. Right now the people are looking for leadership and skills over someone who can stump speeches and build other candidates credibility. Palin has got another 20 years to build her career.

Don’t forget the success of Bill Clinton only happened because Newt and the gop pushed Clinton in the right direction. The wrong speaker of the house would have been a train wreck like Dick Armey. Newts negatives don’t outweigh the positives. Obama wants Palin or RINO Romney because he could beat either one.

Haley Barbour 3% 244
John Bolton   3% 252
Herman Cain 22% 1,562
Mitch Daniels  6% 466
Newt Gingrich  6% 431
Mike Huckabee 4% 269
Sarah Palin 27% 1,972
Tim Pawlenty  3% 196
Mike Pence 13% 971
Rick Perry 2% 179
MItt Romney 7% 536
Rick Santorum  2% 140

Still a Palin/Cain ticket.

Where is Gary Johnson??
How do you justify his non inclusion? Shame on you.
DaveP

In presidential elections, exciting always beats boring.

Let’s look at the last 9 elections:

Ford – Carter Exciting beats boring

Reagan – Carter Exciting beats boring (Carter went from exciting to boring during his term)

Reagan – Mondale Exciting beats boring

Bush – Dukakis Boring beats boring

Bush – Clinton Exciting beats boring

Clinton – Dole Exciting beats boring

Gore – Bush Boring beats boring

Bush – Kerry Boring Beats boring

McCain – Obama Exciting beats boring

While boring vs. boring is a tossup, exciting beats boring every time. Every time.

What we have not seen in our lifetime is exciting vs. exciting. Barack Obama, no matter what anyone thinks of him as president, is a proven exciting candidate. He will beat any boring candidate that the Republicans can put up.

By exciting, I’m talking rock star status. A candidate who people will start jumpimg up and down when the candidate walks into the room, or the hall, or the stadium. A candidate who people will sleep out on a sidewalk in sub freezing temperatures to get a book signed.

Sarah Palin is the only Republican who can do this, and has done it repeatedly. She is the only one who can match Obama’s sizzle on the campaign trail.

Obama and Palin are the two most influential political people in our time. They are the political Yin and Yang of their generation. His power comes from his presidency, as well as his charisma as a candidate. Her power comes from her irresistible influence as a political force of nature.

All of the other Republican candidates will simply be knocked off as the lady swats flies. Obama vs. Palin This is a heavyweight title bout that has to happen.

I believe the two MOST qualified are Herman Cain, who has an impressive and impeccable background, whose qualifications beat any former President’s ever and Sarah Palin, who also has a remarkable background in cleaning up the the state of Alaska.

With Herman, he would be the First TRUE Black Man, whose roots are from Georgia (as opposed to Barack Hussein Obama, the first Fascist Socialist Muslim having a Black Muslim father and a White Communist, Socialist mother) and Sarah, the First Woman to hold either the office of President or Vice President and together would do a fantastic job. Both have no fear of challenge.
I believe that this country needs the best team to get it back on course of being the best country on earth. I
I believe in substance and character, of which both these individuals have, not race color or gender but many voters ARE so because of that, they would make a great team, a partnership.

Let’s have it!