Who will be the Social Conservative Suprise Candidate in the GOP Primary

[MrMittens]

I'm thinking, it was Huckabee in 2008, Santorum in 2012. Will one of them return to contest in 2016, or will we see another plausible GOP SoCon become a major player. Who might it be?

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Maybe Jim DeMint. Or Santorum v2.0.

[Del Tachi]

Louie Gohmert?

[Indy Texas]

Louie Gohmert?

I'm not sure the Internets can handle all the memes that would result from that candidacy.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Probably Jim DeMint, but he's not nearly as bad as Rick Santorum.

[Mr. Morden]

Huckabee won't run again.

Santorum probably will though.  He's already visited Iowa a couple of times since he dropped out of the race.

Brownback or De Mint might run, I guess.  I don't know.  The social conservative identity politics candidate is usually someone who people aren't predicting will run this far out.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Mary Fallin?

[Zioneer]

John Thune, maybe?

[All Along The Watchtower]

Todd Aiken, clearly.

[MrMittens]

Todd Aiken, clearly.

Republicans aren't that stupid

[ShadowRocket]

I'm going to say Jindal. I kind of see all the attention being focused on the likes of Christie, Rubio, Ryan, and Paul where I could see him coming from behind to win Iowa.

[Maxwell]

Demint or Jindal.

[Likely Voter]

Santorum will probably run again and he should consolidate the socons. You could end up with Rick as an early overall frontrunner if there is a big field of candidates vying to be 'new Republicans' (promising to appeal to single women, non-whites, etc)

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

DeMint is much closer to the Paulites but if he runs he could be a bridge candidate between the socons and Paulites. If not I'd look at Pence.

[Vosem]

Well, by definition I don't know who the surprise candidate will be. Santorum seems to be gearing up for a second run in '16 and he would begin as a favorite among SoCons. If you want a surprise SoCon candidate, Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas (who actually tried to run for President in 2008, but his campaign fizzled and he dropped out before Iowa).

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Louie Gohmert?

I'm not sure the Internets can handle all the memes that would result from that candidacy.

Who is Louie Gohmert, and what is he like?

Anyway, I think (and hoping for) Jim DeMint or Bobby Jindal

[TomC]

Santorum or Palin, but I wouldn't call either a surprise. DeMint if he runs.

[DC Al Fine]

Hopefully DeMint. Probably Santorum.

[RogueBeaver]

Depends who runs. Someone running as a SoCon only candidate- Santorum. All the others (Jindal, Ryan, Rubio, Pence, Walker) are social conservatives but it isn't their political raison d'etre.

AK: Gohmert is a Birther loon who thinks popularly elected Senators are a Bad Thing. Among other things.

[Indy Texas]

Depends who runs. Someone running as a SoCon only candidate- Santorum. All the others (Jindal, Ryan, Rubio, Pence, Walker) are social conservatives but it isn't their political raison d'etre.

AK: Gohmert is a Birther loon who thinks popularly elected Senators are a Bad Thing. Among other things.

Santorum's ideology goes beyond conventional social conservatism. He has this idyllic vision of America where all men leave school after 8th grade and go work in factories and shipyards, then go home to simple but well-kept tract houses where their stay-at-home wives found time to make a three course dinner while looking after their five homeschooled children. Ironically it's a state of affairs that requires government largesse, strong labor unions, heavily protectionist economic policy...

Also, anyone unexposed to Louie Gohmert only has to search for his name on YouTube. Make sure to make some popcorn first; you'll be there a while.

[DC Al Fine]

Depends who runs. Someone running as a SoCon only candidate- Santorum. All the others (Jindal, Ryan, Rubio, Pence, Walker) are social conservatives but it isn't their political raison d'etre.

AK: Gohmert is a Birther loon who thinks popularly elected Senators are a Bad Thing. Among other things.

Santorum's ideology goes beyond conventional social conservatism. He has this idyllic vision of America where all men leave school after 8th grade and go work in factories and shipyards, then go home to simple but well-kept tract houses where their stay-at-home wives found time to make a three course dinner while looking after their five homeschooled children. Ironically it's a state of affairs that requires government largesse, strong labor unions, heavily protectionist economic policy...

Also, anyone unexposed to Louie Gohmert only has to search for his name on YouTube. Make sure to make some popcorn first; you'll be there a while.

In fairness, Santorum holds some pretty unorthodox fiscal views IIRC.

[Mister Mets]

I don't think there's going to be a surprise candidate.

Santorum's probably going to run again. Huckabee will also be a possibility.

Santorum won't have much of a shot in a primary full of political figures acceptable to social conservatives, some of whom will be better natural politicians.

[Maxwell]

Possibly Tom Coburn.

[Kalimantan]

You could end up with Rick as an early overall frontrunner if there is a big field of candidates vying to be 'new Republicans' (promising to appeal to single women, non-whites, etc)

now this makes a lot of sense. repubs will be falling over themselves to appeal to women and hispanics