Can you see any of these Republicans running....

[JSojourner]

I have not listed any of the very old Senators or Governors, those whose names have already been floated (even remotely) and those who are tainted by scandal. I am also leaving out house members because the list would just be unwieldly.


The idea here is to see if there's any sort of consensus on who might emerge from the shadows and surprise us all in 2011.

[JSojourner]

I'm curious about why Kyl isn't talked about more.  Is it simply because McCain was from Arizona and we don't think another Arizonan will feel he has a decent shot?

Kyl strikes me as quite the theocrat, but then, so do most of the candidates being touted on one list or another (Palin, Thune, Huckabee, Paul, etc.) 

Is there a skeleton waiting to jump out of Kyl's closet or is he just not up to snuff on the issues? (I note that being in control of one's facts and being well informed is hardly a guarantor of electoral success...Dodd and Biden both outperformed their peers in the early debates, IMO, and yet were summarily dumped by the masses.)

What is Kyl missing?

[JSojourner]

Keep in mind that Kyl will celebrate his 70th birthday in 2012.  Does the GOP really want to nominate a septugenarian senator from Arizona two elections in a row?

Also keep in mind that most of the people we've talked about as potential 2012 candidates are actively doing something to get people to think of them as potential candidates.  Kyl hasn't visited any early primary states or written a book or done anything else that might lead us to believe he's interested.  The only person who seems to have generated some 2012 buzz without actually doing anything to stoke it is Thune.

Thanks Mr. Morden.  Excellent points.  I've just wondered if, in Kyl's case, he lacked the fire to seek higher office or if there was some other point against him that I was unaware of.  I hadn't considered his age.  While 70 is hardly old in political terms, you make an excellent point.  Two grayhairs from the same state in successive elections does seem a bit much.

[JSojourner]

I really want to see a Smart Republican Woman to run and win... wonder if we have any out there right now...

You have three.  Olympia Snowe, Jodi Rell and Linda Lingle.  Good luck getting any of them nominated.

[JSojourner]

I'm new here, while I think all these people are okay, the only logical choice for the 2012 GOP nominee would be Jeb Bush if he chose to run.  He Wants to run, but he might fear losing more.  There's no doubt the nomination would be his, but he might wait until 2016, but he might be too old then.  He wants to be president and has the money to make it happen in the primaries. 

Maybe its already been discussed, so I apologize for bringing his cursed name up!

Welcome to the forum, Milhouse.