Best Republican ticket for '12?

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Stanford/Romney.

Stanford really is a libertarian, I don't think he actually cares that much about social issues, but since he is from the South all (Republican) Southerners will vote for him, even the religious right.

Romney is a wink to the moderates and traditionally blue states. 

It's too bad Romney tried to sell his soul to the religious right in the 2008 elections. If he had ran as the same guy who ran in Massachusetts in 2002, then he may have done better and I would've liked him more.

That said, Mr. Sanford will not run for President. I'd love to see it, but he loves SC too much to leave it and he's said many times he just wants to retire to Sullivan's Island. You're right, though, he is pretty hands off on social issues and said the other night that he wouldn't prosecute Phelps for smoking pot if it was up to him.

Oh no, no. His "trying to sell his soul to the religious right" was the only reason why he did so well. And let us remember, that even that was worse than expected. If he ran as "the same guy who ran in Massachusetts in 2002" he would have dropped out as soon as IA was over if not earlier.

[Psychic Octopus]

McDonnell/Daniels

[pbrower2a]

I think that the Republican ticket will look something like this:  Romney/Huckabee

Sarah Palin will not be on it because she just lost with McCain!!!!  I wouldn't pick her as a running mate, why?  She just lost. 

Losing is one thing. Looking bad while losing is really bad.


She is the Lena Lamont of American politics.

[anvi]

The ticket has Crist and Romney on it in either order, but I think the ticket with Crist at the top does better.  Crist puts Florida back in play and can appeal to moderate Republican voters in Virginia, Ohio and the rustbelt, while Romney can play economic attack dog and perhaps draw some Western voters back.  I don't see anyone else on the horizon strong enough right now.  I don't know if Crist-Romney will win, but they put the most back in play on the electoral map.  But, who knows?  No one thought McCain was going to be the nominee four years ago, so...

[pbrower2a]

The ticket has Crist and Romney on it in either order, but I think the ticket with Crist at the top does better.  Crist puts Florida back in play and can appeal to moderate Republican voters in Virginia, Ohio and the rustbelt, while Romney can play economic attack dog and perhaps draw some Western voters back.  I don't see anyone else on the horizon strong enough right now.  I don't know if Crist-Romney will win, but they put the most back in play on the electoral map.  But, who knows?  No one thought McCain was going to be the nominee four years ago, so...

It will still be difficult with voters in core states for the Democratic Party unlikely to move. McCain was the moderate GOP candidate in 2008 with the bonus of a war record, and he still lost. That could reflect the cultural swing in America more than anything else. has Nevada become a core state of the Democratic Party? That's one that the Republicans must win back, too.  Maybe Romney has a fair chance in Nevada because he is Mormon and Nevada has lots of Mormons.

Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Nevada, and  Arizona are must-win states for the Republican Party, and if they are all 50/50 chances in late October 2012, then the situation will be much as it was in 2008. Effectively that is one chance in 256 by the crude calculation of chance (Indiana does not go for Obama unless Ohio also does, and North Carolina doesn't go for Obama unless Virginia also does, and that's before I even discuss Georgia, so I don't count them), and if Obama pulls away in any one of them -- it's over. Note well that I add Arizona because without McCain, Arizona would have been a battleground state in 2008; the Favorite Son effect is good for about ten percent of the vote.

Crist/Romney could be the strongest ticket. 

[Wall St. Wiz]

Crist and Romney will lead to an 450 EV disaster.  We may have that anyway, but we are assured of it with those two.  Conservatives won't come out for them and they won't bring new people to the party.  They have no presence or charisma.  It would be a bloodbath.

A ticket of Pence and Jindal, either in that order or reverse, would electrify mainstream Republicans, conservatives, Evangelicans, weak Republicans who defected to Obama, and moderate Democrats, particularly blue collar low income voters.

If Obama and the country have a rough 4 years as I suspect we will, this ticket would bring back Ohio, Indiana, and NC to the GOP.  The south (including Missouri) would stay solid red, and Virginia and Florida would be tossups.  My only concern is Southwest.  If the country is really in the toilet then we have a shot there, if not it will be tough to pick off any of these states.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Hopefully they nominate someone that they consider "moderate" again so that they will avoid coming to the conclusion that they lose elections because they are a bunch of far right-wing wackos.

[pbrower2a]

That is the solution -- someone who will have credibility in 2016 even if Obama trounces him in 2012.

For the GOP, the 2012 Presidential contest is likely a losing proposition. The best that the Party can do in 2012 is to showcase someone as a potential challenge to Obama's successor. Joe Biden might be unelectable in 2016 to the same extent that Obama might prove unbeatable in 2012. The Democrats might have a knock-down, drag-out primary campaign in 2016 that leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of the supporters of the losers of the primary campaign and makes independent voters look closely at the Republican nominee as an alternative. Something might be unsettled in the international scene (let us say that theocratic Iran threatens our good democratic friends in Iraq or Pakistan) or the economy could be faltering. If the GOP candidate in 2012 seems to suggest "Good, but we know what we have with Obama", then that is far better than what we had in 2008 from the GOP -- "It's too bad that he didn't get elected in 2000 or 2004 instead".

The Religious Right and its pet politicians have absolutely no answers that America will be able to accept. It will be a long time before such non-starter issues as school prayer, an abortion ban, or an outlawry of erotic materials will be relevant. The Religious Right has passed its peak.     

[Psychic Octopus]

I'd agree, the religous right is dying off faster then capitalism in this country.

Anyway, I don't see Obama winning re-election, we are heading towards a depression worst then the great depression, and I think Obama is a weak candidate and with a huge-democatic controlled congress. The republicans have there work cut out for them. They just sit back and don't do sh**t, they will regain the presidency in 2012

And don't talk to me as if even if the economy doesn't improve Obama will win re-election. He is not FDR, who actually held concern for the common man. He is Barack Obama, a distant elitist ith no care whatsoever for the American people.

[pbrower2a]

The economic downturn, at least as measured by the DJIA, began in September 2007. No economic meltdown in the last 100 years has lasted as long as the 1929-1933 one. Should there be an economic downturn in 2010 it will be a new one.

The economy will be picking up, and probably faster than it would without FDR's deposit insurance, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and LBJ's Great Society -- all of work automatically. Had McCain been President, such would also be so. 

[All Along The Watchtower]

Charlie Crist/Tim Pawlenty.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Anybody but Palin.
I would like a true moderate to become Republican candidate : I think McCain would have got more votes without running a so conservative campaign.

[Psychic Octopus]

Anybody but Palin.
I would like a true moderate to become Republican candidate.

McCain was a moderate candidate. He was a conservative not anchored down to conservatism. ANd the Best Candidate the GOP has ran in years, mind you.

Anyway, Let's give Romney his shot at the prize.

Romney/Crist

[Antonio the Sixth]

McCain was a moderate candidate. He was a conservative not anchored down to conservatism. ANd the Best Candidate the GOP has ran in years, mind you.

Yes, McCain was a moderate... before he decided to run as a conservative during the general election. His choice was probably tactical, to gain the support of the conservative republicans - and it worked -, but nevertheless, he was unable to free himself of this conservative ideology. When republicans will understand that "real America" have had enough of conservatism ?

[GLPman]

I think Huntsman and Romney are both going to be popular, but I can't see a Mormon at the top of the ticket because it would upset the base of the party. That having been said, I think the best bet would probably be:
Crist/Romney

[Josh/Devilman88]

Huntsman/Crist

[RosettaStoned]

Romney/Ryan

[pbrower2a]

McCain was a moderate candidate. He was a conservative not anchored down to conservatism. ANd the Best Candidate the GOP has ran in years, mind you.

Yes, McCain was a moderate... before he decided to run as a conservative during the general election. His choice was probably tactical, to gain the support of the conservative republicans - and it worked -, but nevertheless, he was unable to free himself of this conservative ideology. When republicans will understand that "real America" have had enough of conservatism ?

The Hard Right has been in charge of the GOP since 1994...  and it had so consolidated control of the GOP that even if a moderate like McCain won the Republican Convention it would still be in control of the party. When the Republican National Convention of 2008 became a theater for the Hard Right instead of the John McCain show, the nominee's candidacy was cooked. The party leadership never toned down anything even if such would suggest that moderation could take hold. The message became clear: vote for John McCain and get the same old party leadership calling the shots.   

It was the nomination of John McCain, so it should have been his show, right? Nobody had any question after the Democratic National Convention that Barak Obama was the star of the Democratic Party, and that what one saw was what one got.

[Antonio the Sixth]

McCain was a moderate candidate. He was a conservative not anchored down to conservatism. ANd the Best Candidate the GOP has ran in years, mind you.

Yes, McCain was a moderate... before he decided to run as a conservative during the general election. His choice was probably tactical, to gain the support of the conservative republicans - and it worked -, but nevertheless, he was unable to free himself of this conservative ideology. When republicans will understand that "real America" have had enough of conservatism ?

The Hard Right has been in charge of the GOP since 1994...  and it had so consolidated control of the GOP that even if a moderate like McCain won the Republican Convention it would still be in control of the party. When the Republican National Convention of 2008 became a theater for the Hard Right instead of the John McCain show, the nominee's candidacy was cooked. The party leadership never toned down anything even if such would suggest that moderation could take hold. The message became clear: vote for John McCain and get the same old party leadership calling the shots.   

It was the nomination of John McCain, so it should have been his show, right? Nobody had any question after the Democratic National Convention that Barak Obama was the star of the Democratic Party, and that what one saw was what one got.

That's true, but if the GOP really wants to win elections in the future, he needs to free himself of this radical conservatism. The same that happened with progressive democrats like McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis will happen with the next conservative republican candidates : they will be discredited.