On The Radar: 2012

In 5 days the candidacy of John McCain will be over and a new era of socialism under Barack Obama will begin. As Republicans everywhere find a new, more democratic country to flock to, Newsweek has come out with a new poll looking at potential front runners for the 2012 Republican nomination. The following shows the results of that poll:


"If John McCain is not elected president, which one of the following three possible candidates would you be most likely to support for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012: [see below]?"

Mitt Romney: 35%
Mike Huckabee: 26%
Sarah Palin: 20%
Someone Else: 10%
Unsure: 9%

Given these early numbers there are a few conclusions that can be drawn from this: First is that Mike Huckabee is clearly a front runner and will be looked to by a large part of the Republican Party to lead us out of Socialism and back into the ways of Democracy. Second, a ticket of Romney/Huckabee or Huckabee/Romney would be one that could mobilize the party and bring back a sense of hope to a large group of people that are going to be craving to get Obama out of office. Third and most disturbing is that with Sarah Palin in the race the chances of Huckabee winning the nomination are going to be greatly diminished.

As part of that Newsweek poll this question was also asked of participants:

"Thinking ahead to the next presidential election: If John McCain is not elected president in November, would you like to see Sarah Palin run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, or not?"

Yes: 44%
No : 38%
Unsure: 18%

I think it's pretty easy to see from these numbers that if she is to run in 2012 not only will she not win the nomination but she may very well be the single most polarizing force in the Republican Party.

Given this kind of information I believe it is going to be very important for the Republican leadership to start early, say Nov.5th, and work to persuade Gov. Palin that she is not the right person for the job and that she can be far more effective running Alaska and then possibly filling a role in the new Huckabee administration, perhaps as Energy Secretary or maybe just as a Secretary to President Huckabee.