2012: Obama vs Steele

[justfollowingtheelections]

Steele runs against Obama and picks the best possible running mate.  I'll let you decide what the political climate is in 2012.

Post maps and also tell us who you think the best possible running mate for Steele would be.

[HappyWarrior]

Steele gets crushed, running mate will have no effect.  This is being kind to Steele.

[Psychic Octopus]

Imagine how racists would vote lol.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Imagine how racists would vote lol.

Probably they would stay home to rearrange their sock drawer.

[hcallega]

I'm from Maryland, and Steele is an absolute joke. I originally thought about supporting him, but once he started campaigning I just started laughing. He is a quote machine for conservatives, though he's worse than Pailin talking issues. Plus, his charisma isn't so great. His numbers looked good in 2006 because Ben Cardin is viewed as a serious pol, very liberal, and very Baltimore Jewish (there is such a thing). Thus rural voters favored the conservative black over the liberal Jew. Obama would crush him. Think is Sarah Pailin was black and running for president.

[tmthforu94]

Being party chairman for 2-4 years is not the experience needed for the next commander in cheif. Even though I really like Steele, I would support the Constitution party in this election, unless the election is somewhat close.

As for the political climate...I don't think Obama will do a good job. I'm going to say his approval rating around 35%.

Obama/Biden: 257
Steele/Jindal: 281

[hcallega]

No way Steele wins. He is a big joke. First off, he's not "folksy" at all. Second, he really isn't too bright. And third, he makes quite a few gaffes such as when he COMPARED STEM CELL RESEARCH TO THE HOLOCAUST in front of a group of Jewish senior citizens. While running against a well known hero of the Baltimore Jewish Community. He will never win elected office. Ever.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I'm from Maryland, and Steele is an absolute joke. I originally thought about supporting him, but once he started campaigning I just started laughing. He is a quote machine for conservatives, though he's worse than Pailin talking issues.

lol I feel the same way to be honest.  I just wanted to see whether a black Republican candidate would change how the South voted.  I was actually talking today to a guy that I know is very racist and he told me that he's not a republican anymore

[pbrower2a]

Being party chairman for 2-4 years is not the experience needed for the next commander in cheif. Even though I really like Steele, I would support the Constitution party in this election, unless the election is somewhat close.

As for the political climate...I don't think Obama will do a good job. I'm going to say his approval rating around 35%.

Obama/Biden: 257
Steele/Jindal: 281

Steele would be a desperation pick, someone settled on only after a knock-down, drag-out nomination contest not settled until the Republican National Convention after an eighth round or later some time in the wee hours of the morning as a compromise candidate. Such choices fare badly in recent years, when the Conventions are highly-viewed events, but not at 2 AM.

Obama is a polished politician, as slick as they come, and I assume that he will have some success. Obama wins the minimum core of the Democrats -- Gore 2000+ NH or Kerry + IA + NM -- and state outside of those in which people prefer the black man that they know to the one that they don't. That could give Obama an edge in some States in which he did badly -- where white people will vote for the black man that they at least know over the black man that they don't know.

Face it: John McCain was the strongest candidate that the GOP has run for President since Ronald Reagan, and he still lost badly. In 2012 he won't run, and the GOP has no candidate who has shown that he can win outside of his home area, let alone cut into the recent core of Democratic support.

Not Romney. Not Huckabee. Not Palin.

 

[Lief 🗽]

[Psychic Octopus]

I agree with Pbrower, steele would lose to Obama.

[Nixon in '80]

Steele would lose big, but if Obama is unpopular, it wouldn't be as lopsided as some of these maps.

[TeePee4Prez]

I agree with this.  Maybe flip MS as well.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

The highest public office that Steele has held was lieutenant governor (in his case, of MD). Not many former, lieutenant governors have been elected president, nor do I think that Steele would be (nor do I see him winning the primaries), at the very least, not without holding a higher public office by 2012.

No idea about political climate...I will assume that Obama's approval rating is around 45 percent.

Best possible running mate...no idea.

I am being kind to Steele.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Obama's approvals are between 50-55%:

[bhouston79]

Obama's approval rating is around 60%  Here's the map:

Additionally, Obama markedly improves in Appalachia due to the race factor being neutralized; and African Americans go even more overwhelmingly for Obama as most see the GOP's nomination as sheer tokenism.  If Steele is the best the GOP can come up with, then the GOP has problems!

[tmthforu94]

Obama's approval rating is around 60%  Here's the map:

Additionally, Obama markedly improves in Appalachia due to the race factor being neutralized; and African Americans go even more overwhelmingly for Obama as most see the GOP's nomination as sheer tokenism.  If Steele is the best the GOP can come up with, then the GOP has problems!

Alaska would vote for Obama. The only reason McCain won it easily was because of Palin.

[Antonio the Sixth]

An Obama landslide :

[JerryBrown2010]

YES!

NO WAY!

[Lincoln Republican]

This map looks about right to me.

Steele has former Missouri Senator James Talent as his running mate.

No sitting Senator wanted to put his reputation on the line by signing on to a ticket that was going to go down to a crushing defeat.

Even under unfavorable circumstances for Obama in 2012, the voters would side with him overwhelmingly if he was running against such an obviously unqualified candidate for President.

Don't get me wrong, I like Steele and believe he is a fine person, and a very capable man, however, far out of his depth as a Presidential candidate, let alone President.

[DariusNJ]

LOL, I wonder how white voters in the South (especially the Deep South) would vote. If someone like Chuck Baldwin was on the ballot in the South, I could see him pulling 20-30% of the white vote in the Deep South.

But yeah, Obama would win, even with a 40% approval rating.

[defe07]

LOL, I wonder how white voters in the South (especially the Deep South) would vote. If someone like Chuck Baldwin was on the ballot in the South, I could see him pulling 20-30% of the white vote in the Deep South.

But yeah, Obama would win, even with a 40% approval rating.

I wonder what a map would look like.

[DariusNJ]

Here you go.

Obama 410, Steele 128

A conservative third party would pull in lots of white votes in the Deep South, this would help Obama win Mississippi with 44-45%, and Georgia with 47-48% of the vote.

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

Kentucky and Mississippi could flip (in my scenario) or both go the same way. 

[defe07]

Here you go.

Obama 410, Steele 128

A conservative third party would pull in lots of white votes in the Deep South, this would help Obama win Mississippi with 44-45%, and Georgia with 47-48% of the vote.

Popular Vote totals??