How come there aren't any female GOP politicians running?

[retromike22]

Remember these four?

Gov. Nikki Haley
Gov. Susanna Martinez
Gov. Mary Fallin
Sen. Kelly Ayotte

[Ebsy]

I think Nikki Haley should be running. I haven't the faintest idea why she isn't.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Fallin has tons of baggage. Haley has some too, although less. Ayotte is well-liked, but hasn't really accomplished all that much or become a huge name.

Martinez, out of the four, could be a legitimate candidate and maybe even the favorite, but she's got family issues that keep her from wanting to leave New Mexico.

[Mr. Morden]

Haley might run in 2020, if Clinton is the incumbent.

Ayotte will probably perpetually be on the VP short list, as long as she's in the Senate (though maybe not in 2016, since she's running for reelection).

[Beet]

Fiorina is a politician now that she's running.

[RogueBeaver]

Interest, profile, baggage? Mixture? What have any of them done to be présidentiable?

[Mister Mets]

You could also add Condoleeza Rice, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and Marsha Blackburn to the list.

It is a bit unusual that Fiorina has this opening.

[Brewer]

Kelly Ayotte had the potential to run as a foreign policy-focused neocon candidate, but Graham has filled that role for the moment. Plus her seat would essentially become Lean D at least if she didn't run for reelection.

Marsha Blackburn could possibly gain some traction, but she'd probably end up being a less successful Bachmann.

[Ebsy]

Isn't Blackburn prone to saying crazy stuff? She's also from an noncompetitive House seat. Hardly a top tier recruit of Republicans.

[Brewer]

Isn't Blackburn prone to saying crazy stuff? She's also from an noncompetitive House seat. Hardly a top tier recruit of Republicans.

Well, yeah. In a discussion regarding potential Republican presidential primary candidates, what's your point?

[publicunofficial]

Haley - No real reason not to run.

Fallin - Never really had a niche, never seemed interested.

Martinez - Not ambitious, mostly talked about because how good she would be as a candidate.

Ayotte - Hasn't done much, has never really sought national attention.

Rice - Time has passed, never seem interested in running for anything.

McMorris-Rodgers - Not well-known, no real niche, from a state that's irrelevant to GOP politically.

Blackburn - lolwut



Fiorna's probably the only GOP woman in the race. At least until she drops out shortly before or after the Iowa Caucus.

[Fuzzy Bear]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/03/29/carly-fiorina-90-percent-likely-to-run-for-gop-presidential-nomination/

Ask and ye shall receive.  Carly Fiorina states that she is 90% sure she'll run for President.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Ayotte - Hasn't done much, has never really sought national attention.

She's up for reelection in 2016, which makes running much more difficult.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Remember these four?

Gov. Nikki Haley
Gov. Susanna Martinez
Gov. Mary Fallin
Sen. Kelly Ayotte

Martinez is something of a viable VP candidate, but not really ready for primetime as a Presidential candidate.  She's a former Democrat who's socially conservative, but I wonder if she's conservative enough for the Tea Party base of the GOP.

Ayotte is up for re-election in 2016 and I am not sure that she can run for re-election and President.  She, too, is more of a VP pick, and, IMO, a stronger one than Martinez.

Fallin and Haley are VP-type picks that don't expand the map for the GOP.  Fallin has been non-controversial, but Haley has been quite controversial, and is disliked by much of the GOP in her home state.

[politicus]

Haley - No real reason not to run.

Being corrupt seems like a real reason.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Haley - No real reason not to run.

Fallin - Never really had a niche, never seemed interested.

Martinez - Not ambitious, mostly talked about because how good she would be as a candidate.

Ayotte - Hasn't done much, has never really sought national attention.

Rice - Time has passed, never seem interested in running for anything.

McMorris-Rodgers - Not well-known, no real niche, from a state that's irrelevant to GOP politically.

Blackburn - lolwut



Fiorna's probably the only GOP woman in the race. At least until she drops out shortly before or after the Iowa Caucus.

Fallin's niche would seem to be the really hard-edged social conservatives, given her "cut off all soldiers' benefits to make sure gay soldiers don't get them" stance. Cruz basically boxes her out of that niche, though.

[Mister Mets]

Part of it may be that Republicans aren't rewarding anyone based on gender.

A pro-choice white guy who was George W Bush's second Secretary of State would likely not get a lot of attention.

Susanna Martinez is a successful small-state Governor, but still a small-state Governor.

Mary Fallin's been a relatively generic Governor and has been accused of having an affair with her bodyguard.

Kelly Ayotte's a voice on foreign policy, but overshadowed by others in the Senate.

I can't really name what makes Nikki Haley's actions as Governor particulalry impressive.

McMorris-Rodgers and Blackburn are above average members of Congress, but that's pretty much it.

Michelle Bachmann was kinda crazy, but she was the top fundraiser in the US House and founded the House Tea Party caucus.

Potential candidates have something to recommend to large segments of the voters (even though there are a lot of negatives).

Jeb Bush is a well-connected former big-state Governor, and has spent the last decade talking about policy.

Scott Walker is the only Governor to survive a recall election. And he's won fights against people Republicans dislike in a state that's either purple, or Democratic.

Mike Huckabee was a minister before he became Governor, and has spent years honing his communication skills on Fox News.

Chris Christie was reelected in a very Democratic state, and has a good staff when it comes to video editing.

The Freshman Senators aren't backbenchers. Rand Paul is the most prominent member of the party's libertarian wing. Ted Cruz combines red meat and academic credentials. Marco Rubio combines old ideas with stronger demographic appeal, and forced Charlie Crist out of the party.

I'd imagine a big section of the party also thinks they're okay with demographics because there are two likely Hispanic candidates, in addition to the Bush married to a Hispanic woman for 40+ years.

[Former Democrat]

Carly Fiorina is running

[Mister Mets]

Carly Fiorina is running

I think retromike is using politician to refer to people currently/ formerly in elected office.

At this point, Fiorina's a politician, given her bid for Senate.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

You could also add Condoleeza Rice, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and Marsha Blackburn to the list.

It is a bit unusual that Fiorina has this opening.

- McMorris-Rodgers is tied to the House leadership and makes Lieberman look charismatic.

- Blackburn is certifiably insane

- Rice? Looooooooooooooooooooooooool

[Ebsy]

Rice is lucky she wasn't prosecuted for war crimes after the disaster in Iraq.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Ayotte will have enough trouble defending her senate seat, and if she vacates it, she gets all of the blame if the republicans lose her seat and come up one seat short of a post-2016 majority as a result.

Rice has tons of baggage from her time as SoS, and can easily be tied to GWB.

Martinez is nationally unknown outside of NM and she'd have trouble appealing to the base.

Fallin underperformed last year, letting Dorman get 41% and win several counties while Lankford/Inhofe swept all counties and got nearly 70% of the vote.

Haley is nationally unknown outside of SC, underperformed Tim Scott last year, and nearly lost in 2010.

McMorrisRodgers and Blackburn would have to give up safe house seats to run.

Palin is hated by the party establishment because of how she didn't help McCain anywhere outside of AK in 2008, and because she refused to endorse Parnell last year.

Bachmann is hated by the party establishment for obvious reasons, and knows she'd never win anyway after her embarrassing 2012 performance.

So that leaves Fiorina, who is just thought of "Oh, that old CEO who thought she could beat the Boxer machine? I guess she's ok...." and who most of the party doesn't really have strong opinions about and can at least point to the fact that she outperformed Whitman's 2010 showing and Kashkari's 2014 showing, so I suppose she's the one....