What about Tom Ridge??

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

This may be his only shot.  Pro-Choice yeah yeah yeah, I know he can't get nominated - bull.

Ridge has brass balls and at least that Marine personality wouldnt be afraid to take on a strong incumbent.

[Sam Spade]

He's running for PA governor again?  I think he can win there.

[Alcon]

I don't think his moderateness is the deal-breaker.  I just don't think he's likely to break out of the second tier.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I don't think his moderateness is the deal-breaker.  I just don't think he's likely to break out of the second tier.

Yes, I think you're exactly right.  If the "fresh faces" wait til 2016, maybe, just maybe, he can break through

[paul718]

Isn't he more of a foreign policy guy?  I'd think the next election will be heavy on domestic issues.

[Keystone Phil]

Ok, aside from his weird Pro Choice views (and I call them weird because he's always had a complicated position on the issue), do you really think Tom Ridge could go toe to toe with Barack Obama during a campaign? Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Ok, aside from his weird Pro Choice views (and I call them weird because he's always had a complicated position on the issue), do you really think Tom Ridge could go toe to toe with Barack Obama during a campaign? Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

LOL, my soap dish has more charisma than Bob Dole, and yeah Ridge is no great stump speaker but who has the moxy to go up against Obama.

Pawlenty and Jindal put me to sleep........Mitt will likely be the guy, but as I suggested in another thread......someone is going to be a sacrificial lamb.

[Rob]

Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

Kinda like McCain in 2008.

[Alcon]

I think that McCain at least had a strong identity to run on.  Even Dole had a persona to run on.  Ridge manages to be nuanced and boring, which seems to be an electorally lethal combination -- especially if you have to break out of the second tier.

I don't really know how to describe this in words, so I hope at least one other person "gets" it.  He's just the wrong personality and persona for a Presidential campaign.  And I don't really think he wants it, or could make himself believe it.

[J. J.]

Ridge should have been the VP candidate in 2000 or 2008.  He is old news in 2012. 

[Keystone Phil]

Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

Kinda like McCain in 2008.

McCain wanted to be President. McCain wasn't that boring.

[Reaganfan]

Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

Kinda like McCain in 2008.

McCain wanted to be President. McCain wasn't that boring.

Exactly. Around July 2008, McCain ramped up his rhetoric, and began leading in polls, including polls asking "Who do you trust more on the economy?" He had the "DRILL NOW" issue that Obama was against in the midst of a gas crisis, and was making Obama out to be some Paris Hilton-type celebrity. Then he aced the Saddleback Forum, and after Palin and the GOP Convention...was on his way to pulling a Bush '88.

There was a two month period from July to September 2008 when things looked good...charisma was never an issue.

[paul718]

I think that McCain at least had a strong identity to run on.  Even Dole had a persona to run on.  Ridge manages to be nuanced and boring, which seems to be an electorally lethal combination -- especially if you have to break out of the second tier.

But Ridge was a governor (of a large state, no less) and held one of the "sexy" cabinet positions.  Again, however, I'm not sure that's the stuff people will be looking for. 

[pbrower2a]

Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

Kinda like McCain in 2008.

McCain wanted to be President. McCain wasn't that boring.

Exactly. Around July 2008, McCain ramped up his rhetoric, and began leading in polls, including polls asking "Who do you trust more on the economy?" He had the "DRILL NOW" issue that Obama was against in the midst of a gas crisis, and was making Obama out to be some Paris Hilton-type celebrity. Then he aced the Saddleback Forum, and after Palin and the GOP Convention...was on his way to pulling a Bush '88.

There was a two month period from July to September 2008 when things looked good...charisma was never an issue.

Long into 2008 people were more concerned about rising gas prices (likely the result of speculative efforts to replace dollars of depreciating value with a tangible and marketable object -- oil).  Such was but one of several bubbles operating at once -- and bursting at roughly the same time.

Sarah Palin may have had the right solution for rising oil prices -- but absolutely none for the economic disaster from the real estate and lending fraud that created quick profits while destroying the wealth of people other than the scammers.

Could any VP have made a difference in the 2008 election? Sarah Palin proved a disaster. Ridge? That implies a convoluted story.

[Mr. Morden]

If Ridge runs, he should give color coded alerts on the status of his campaign.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I think that McCain at least had a strong identity to run on.  Even Dole had a persona to run on.  Ridge manages to be nuanced and boring, which seems to be an electorally lethal combination -- especially if you have to break out of the second tier.

But Ridge was a governor (of a large state, no less) and held one of the "sexy" cabinet positions.  Again, however, I'm not sure that's the stuff people will be looking for. 

Yeah, he was a member of Bush's cabinet and his most well known acheivement is the creation of that color-coding system now regarded as a joke by almost everyone. That's a real winning resume.

[12th Doctor]

Ridge would be a good President.  He is deceptively intelligent, not afraid to go his own way, and has the nerve to stay in any fight.  I mean, the man fought in a war, and worked his ass off to make it through some of the top tier schools in the country.  He didn't get into the Ivy League because daddy set it up.

The problem is, he seems to lack charisma, depending on how, exactly, you define that (I would say he has presence even if he failed to light the room on fire), and since the selection process for Presidents has become increasingly shallow, I don't see how he wins in the general, even if he does pull in PA and Ohio.

Age is also a factor here.  He would be 67 upon assuming office.

In terms of the issues, in their utter stupidity, the "conservative" wing of the party seems determined to give the boot to anyone who isn't only slightly to the Left of Mussolini, and so Ridge would have a Hell of a time making it through a primary, because his record as PA governor was strongly in favor of supporting social programs... not huge ones, but he did start the CHIP program, and a few other initiatives, and since the current Right can't make a distinction between good and bad programs, that will hurt him, as will his good relationship with the Unions (which really just has more to do with him being someone who is alot like them). 

Of course, then you have the fact that he is not a screaming social conservative.  He has a very complicated position on abortion.  He is not anti-"fags".  Frankly, he is to the Left of McCain, and if people abandoned McCain, they would abandon Ridge.

I think we need someone to move the Party to the Left, socially, but I don't think Ridge has the ability to do that.

Ridge is in my top-5 of people I would like to see in the Oval.  I strongly supported him for VP in 2008.  But, I just don't see how he wins.

[12th Doctor]

Ok, aside from his weird Pro Choice views (and I call them weird because he's always had a complicated position on the issue), do you really think Tom Ridge could go toe to toe with Barack Obama during a campaign? Ridge has zero charisma. He's an old. It would be Bob Dole all over again with the only difference being that Bob Dole actually wanted to be President.

I think it's unfortunately that we have come to associate "complex" with "weird".

As though it is abnormal to recognize that there are no easy questions, let alone easy answers.

[JSojourner]

This may be his only shot.  Pro-Choice yeah yeah yeah, I know he can't get nominated - bull.

Ridge has brass balls and at least that Marine personality wouldnt be afraid to take on a strong incumbent.

Just so he doesn't choose a running mate with the last name of "runner".

[pbrower2a]

Ridge would be a good President.  He is deceptively intelligent, not afraid to go his own way, and has the nerve to stay in any fight.  I mean, the man fought in a war, and worked his ass off to make it through some of the top tier schools in the country.  He didn't get into the Ivy League because daddy set it up.

The problem is, he seems to lack charisma, depending on how, exactly, you define that (I would say he has presence even if he failed to light the room on fire), and since the selection process for Presidents has become increasingly shallow, I don't see how he wins in the general, even if he does pull in PA and Ohio.

Age is also a factor here.  He would be 67 upon assuming office.

In terms of the issues, in their utter stupidity, the "conservative" wing of the party seems determined to give the boot to anyone who isn't only slightly to the Left of Mussolini, and so Ridge would have a Hell of a time making it through a primary, because his record as PA governor was strongly in favor of supporting social programs... not huge ones, but he did start the CHIP program, and a few other initiatives, and since the current Right can't make a distinction between good and bad programs, that will hurt him, as will his good relationship with the Unions (which really just has more to do with him being someone who is alot like them). 

Of course, then you have the fact that he is not a screaming social conservative.  He has a very complicated position on abortion.  He is not anti-"fags".  Frankly, he is to the Left of McCain, and if people abandoned McCain, they would abandon Ridge.

I think we need someone to move the Party to the Left, socially, but I don't think Ridge has the ability to do that.

Ridge is in my top-5 of people I would like to see in the Oval.  I strongly supported him for VP in 2008.  But, I just don't see how he wins.

So far he is the only imaginable Republican nominee who could pull Pennsylvania in the general election (and he would likely pick up Indiana and Ohio and at least make Michigan close) -- if the partisan dynamics were as they were in 1996. A RINO could win as late as 2006 in Pennsylvania (Rick Santorum was not a RINO, but instead a dinosaur) But that is past. The partisan dynamics are very different. His performance as Secretary of Homeland Security was reasonably good for one of Dubya's appointees, but that might not be enough.   

He may be the least objectionable imaginable Republican nominee of 2012 except perhaps for Charlie Crist -- which means that he might take votes away from Mitt Romney and give Huckabee more of a chance of winning the GOP nomination. We don't have any polls on how Ridge would perform against Obama.

A Ridge-Crist ticket looks now like the dream ticket for beating Obama in 2012 should our 44th President falter -- but neither would win the nomination. 2016? Quite possible should the GOP rank-and-file give up on the idea that it is enough to pander to racists, anti-intellectuals, and rapacious corporatists  to win a nationwide election.  Obama will absolutely need at least three of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, and Florida to win in 2012; Crist could imaginably deliver Florida, and Ridge could deliver Pennsylvania, which has considerable pull on Ohio and maybe Indiana. I might come up with an interesting map showing Ridge-Crist against Obama-Biden, and it might look very pretty to Republicans.

[The Duke]

This is an embarrassing thread.  He is not up to the job and should not be considered.

He could have locked up that Senate seat fo us if he had gotten in against Specter.  He's a wimp and I don't want a wimp in the Oval Office.

[pbrower2a]

This is an embarrassing thread.  He is not up to the job and should not be considered.

He could have locked up that Senate seat for us if he had gotten in against Specter.  He's a wimp and I don't want a wimp in the Oval Office.

... or he might have salvaged one Senate seat for the GOP had he challenged Rick Santorum in the 2006 Pennsylvania primary. Santorum had no logical chance of winning Pennsylvania in 2006.

Until I see a poll on how he would do against Obama in Pennsylvania (if he can't win his home state then the entire rationale for even thinking of him as a GOP candidate vanishes, as the Favorite Son effect is worth at least ten percentage points, makes no sense) I assume that he has viability as a GOP nominee. I quickly dropped all talk of Pawlenty as a Presidential candidate once I saw him losing to Obama.

The future of the GOP is as a moderate alternative to excesses of Democratic liberalism -- or the GOP can go the way of the Federalists and Whigs.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

In 2012 it'll have been almost a decade since he held elected office. Quite pathetic if the GOP has to resort to THAT.

Yah yah, he had a cabinet position after that, I don't think serving in Bush's cabinet and creating the much mocked color-coding system is a huge plus.

[paul718]

In 2012 it'll have been almost a decade since he held elected office. Quite pathetic if the GOP has to resort to THAT.

Yah yah, he had a cabinet position after that, I don't think serving in Bush's cabinet and creating the much mocked color-coding system is a huge plus.

The Democrats just nominated a guy whose claim to fame was a speech he gave in 2004. 

[Smash255]

In 2012 it'll have been almost a decade since he held elected office. Quite pathetic if the GOP has to resort to THAT.

Yah yah, he had a cabinet position after that, I don't think serving in Bush's cabinet and creating the much mocked color-coding system is a huge plus.

The Democrats just nominated a guy whose claim to fame was a speech he gave in 2004. 

Obama connected with the base of the party and his ideas and beliefs were a good fit for the party.  Ridge on the other hand doesn't fit or connect well with the base of the GOP, especially now as the base has gotten much more conservative and southern oriented.