Talk Elections

...in light of senate primaries in the past week.

Mike Huckabee would have done extremely well in states that John McCain won in both the primaries and the general election. he was the only one who consistently held his own against Mitt Romney.

NOTA.

Huckabee and Christie would have come close at least.

Palin would've won easily.

She would have been flavor of the month at least once, and might even have been in the lead for most of 2011, but do you really think she could have gotten through 20-odd debates without making a critical, campaign-ending gaffe?

I'm the only Mike Pence voter. The reason I picked him was because the only time I've ever heard of him was because he was 1 on the jmfcst list.

I am absolutely convinced that if Palin was running, she'd be the nominee.

Only Daniels and Christie.

This.

However, I think people underestimate Palin these days. She wasn't ready in '08 and she's probably still not ready now... But she's way better with the issues now and would definitely surprise a lot of folks.

Huckabee, Christie, Daniels

Christie would have basically been Obama '08 for the Republicans.

Huckabee is the only one that I could've see pulling it off. Palin wouldn't have survived the scrutiny, Christie isn't ready, and the rest really aren't interesting to make an impact.

Huckabee, Daniels

Christie is too rude for a lot of voters in the Midwest and the South.

Daniels would have been even less exciting than Romney and his family life would have been a bit problematic, I think.

Huckabee. Maybe Palin.

Daniels.

Its sad that Daniels refused to run because his family would be attacked. 

I'm sure all the liberals here would have gleefully destroyed Daniels' wife and family just like the liberals destroyed sarah palin's family even though her family deserved all the hate thrown at them, lol. 

Liberals will say its all because of hypocracy against christians, but in reality, its a political weapon.  Liberals will use sex scandals and affairs for the purposes of creating a atheist, secular, non-christian, pro-choice and gay society. 

The gloves are off and Daniels' wife will be destroyed in 3, 2, 1...

The thing about Daniels is, he's a tough guy. He wouldn't let the media get to him. I'm sure after the Ann Romney thing, Republicans would have a field day if the media attacked Daniels' wife.

Christie, Huckabee, Palin.

Palin may be considered a surprise, but the base loves her. Thune probably would've been like Pawlenty - a decent candidate, but one that's too bland to break out. Voted Daniels, but on closer inspection he may not have been able to break out of a primary that easy.

Huckabee. He's intelligent, reliably conservative, and personally well liked. I may be ideologically opposed to Huckabee, but he's the kinda guy you just want to sit down and have a beer with. As the republican party has shifted more towards the right, huckabee is probably right in the mainstream of the Republican party right now, and by standing up to rush limabugh he's shown that he has guts.

This makes me look like a bad Romney supporter...:(

Huckabee
Thune
Pence
Daniels

Christie and probably Huckabee.

Can't believe some people are saying Palin. I doubt she would even win ND, even the people I know that liked Santorum think Palin is a joke.

People saw romney as inevitable early on declined. Wished they had of once the santorum surge took hold. Huck should of been nom in either 08 or 12

Hard to say.  I'm not as high on Huckabee as some of you are because I think Maurice Clemmons might have turned out to be a pretty big deal.....but in general, I think Romney was such a weak frontrunner that almost any decent campaign could have sunk him.  He was extremely lucky that all of his opponents were so inept.  But the thing is, it's hard to say who's going to run an inept campaign before they run it, and thus hard to answer this question.

Christie and Huckabee would have won.  Palin probably could have, too.

I have chilled on Pence.

if ALL the names in the poll (Huckabee,Christie,Thune,Daniels, Pence, Barbour, Palin, Trump, Rubio)
 had run along with those who actually did (Romney, Cain, etc)....Rubio would have won.

If ONLY ONE of those named in the poll had run along with those who actually did...Huckabee, Thune, Pence, Barbour, and Rubio would have won.   Palin, Trump would have surely lost.  Christie might have had a chance, but I doubt it.  Daniels' "truce on social issues" would have got him routed.

Of the whole bunch (this poll and those who actually ran), my preference would have been:

1) Rubio
2) Rubio
3) Rubio
4) Thune
5) Huck
6) Pence (though he doesn't seem to be very smart)
7) Barbour
8a) Christie (tie)
8b) Romney (tie)
10) Perry
11) suicide
12) the rest

^This.

Even having checked out of the 2012 election... You still have that magic jmfcst touch.

Same day you posted the above:


http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/05/17/486343/rubio-romney-marriage/  (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/05/17/486343/rubio-romney-marriage/)

Huckabee and Thune, and perhaps Christie or Pence.

Huckabee would have easily won Iowa and South Carolina, and all of the South and Midwest. He's more charismatic than Romney, and he'd probably be just as strong a candidate against Obama. Thune, on the other hand, would have played extremely well with evangelicals, and unlike most of the candidates, is actually likable.

Christie is harder to predict. His entry would damage Romney greatly, and swoop up a lot of his support as well as taking most of Perry's supporters, but there's no indication it was sustainable. He would have hit 40% about a week or two after his entry, but all of the candidates would focus their attention on him, and he'd fall back to Earth. He probably would have made a lot of gaffes like Perry, too, considering the fact that he would be starting late (though unlike Perry, he doesn't seem to be an idiot).

Pence... I don't know. On paper, he's a clear choice. No baggage, solidly conservative, evangelical. I don't know his speaking style. He probably had a better chance than Pawlenty, and would be well-liked in Iowa, I'm sure.

Daniels was never going to get off the ground in this cycle. He was the Hoosier Pawlenty. Palin is a worse gaffe machine than Rick Perry -- there's no way she would have won. She'd just further split the Anti-Romneys. The others... no.

I don't see what Romney states Huckabee could win, and that's without considering the baggage of that pardoned cop killer guy. He'd just take Santorum's place, and because of that baggage and the inaccurate idea he's soft on economics might even be weaker.

Daniels would have no chance whatsoever, he wouldn't have even been a flavor of the month. Why would the Tea Party people rally around Bush's budget director of all people when they scream about reigning in spending? And he's about as interesting as a box of rocks aside from that fact. He'd get around the same amount as Huntsman.

Rubio's stance is fine.  He is against gay marriage because it is homosexual.  But he points out that since states have been the one to govern marriage, the Fed shouldn't get involved.

I thought Pence was the original choice of the JMFCST voter?

I thought jmfcst warmed up to Huntsman?

they would've run if they thought they could win.  only Christie/Rubio with any serious outside chance

Rubio would have to start his campaign almost immediately after taking office.

()

I don't know if Palin could have won this year, but here's the thing:

1.  She probably enjoys being the Kingmaker -- or even more, the Queenmaker -- in the GOP.  As we've seen, she just mentions a name and instantly make a nobody into a somebody and a contender.  (Meanwhile, the poor President is sitting by his phone, wishing someone would call to ask for his endorsement.  It's a lonely vigil.)

2.  She's still young in political years (and still good-looking).  She knows she can skip a lot of gritting, slogging campaigns before she becomes "the inevitable nominee".  The establishment won't be able to stop her forever.  There'll be so many elected GOPers in her debt, she'll have a lot of chits to call in.

Not if they thought they could only win the nomination.  And it's not clear Daniels would have run even if he thought he'd become president.  He wouldn't be the first.  Probably, Colin Powell and Al Gore each passed when they thought they had a good chance to win it all.  Hillary may follow suit in 2016.

oh chill the nature of the contest or the sequential contest is to de-illuminate the impossibility of the next hurdle.  you have an 8-9 game in the NCAA tournament that goes into 3 overtimes and you're not getting sh**t about the teams not caring because they'll be 14-point dogs to Duke next round.

Huckabee, Christie, Pence, Palin