Thursday, February 26, 2009

Possible Republican Nominees for 2012

Today in Washington, D.C., a poll was conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) regarding the next presidential election. Those who attended the conference were asked to answer a questionnaire, and one of the questions was: "Thinking ahead to the 2012 Presidential election, who would you vote for as the next Republican nominee for President?"

Here are the top choices:
(1) Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, (2) former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, (3) former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, (4) former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, (5) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, (6) Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, (7) Texas Rep. Ron Paul, (8) Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, (9) former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and (10) South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Some are familiar faces, like Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney. Some are newecomers, like Bobby Jindal. By the way, both he and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford rejected money from President Obama's stimulus (partially)... is there a connection? Tim Pawlenty doesn't seem like an awful choice, but I'm not so sure about Newt Gingrich.

I cannot fathom why Sarah Palin is on this list; frankly, I thought that Sarah Palin mania ended a long, long, long, long time ago, and that she went back to obscurity in Alaska...but I guess not.

I also think that it was interesting that people are already making plans about the next presidency when Obama's just barely got started...

4 comments:

angela rosensweig said...

I think this is a completely wrong approach to what the CPAC could be doing with their time. Instead of speculating about how best to plan for and win the next presidential election, they should be focusing on the issues that must be taken care of in the time we have until that election. Their decision to focus on this, despite the economy, rising unemployment, etc. strikes me as very strange. The nominees for the next presidential election should be petty concerns, especially with all we have ahead of us. I would expect instead that this group would meet to discuss the plans of Obama, and where they disagree with him, and how to amend the points he makes that they find unacceptable so as to pass his legislation and fix the current state we're in, which will benefit not only them, these conservatives, but also all of America. I would expect that they'd have this conference in order to address the important issues Obama has to face, to plan their own ways of dealing with the issues, in order to have something to present to either contradict or aid his plans. In this way, they could influence legislation and get things passed that they approve of, that will leave their mark on the nation and get us moving in a more positive direction sooner. This is what I would expect from our country, our government. We look to it to protect us, it even goes so far as to claim to do so. But with activities such as this, it isn't any wonder we're in the state we're in.

Kate Lin said...

I'm not voting for any of them because I'm not a Republican! :) Hahaha.

I agree, I thought Sarah Palin would have dropped out of the political game. She's doing just fine running Alaska.

I do agree with Angela in that our country has a lot of more difficult issues to deal with, but maybe it's a good thing that not every article is about what horrible shape our country/world is in. It would be depressing. People worry about the economy enough, maybe they just need something a little more superficial to get their minds off of it.

Jeff Yeh said...

I remember seeing another poll somewhere that showed Palin as #1, but that just can't be right. I'd have thought that her performance in the last election would have been enough to make people at least vote for other more capable candidates. But I agree with Angela in that it's too early to look at 2012, considering that Obama hasn't even been president for very long, and that they ought to be focusing on something more relevant to our current situation. But I guess it was done simply because it's something that many people like. Palin and the Media got people to watch so maybe these 2012 election polls are just another attempt to get people's attention. A ton of people are looking for people to blame (read: rich bankers) and the media is definitely taking advantage of that. I'm getting tired of turning on the television just to see people blaming others.

Moeka Takagi said...

I also saw a segment on the news called something like, "Palin for 2012?" It made me gasp at first, but I figured the media wanted to catch viewers' attention. She did become very, very famous during the fall election and I guess the media isn't ready to completely stop covering about her. I mean, her life is pretty eventful-her many children, life in Alaska(I've seen a lot on this), Bristol and her baby. It's definitely much easier to watch her on television now as a mom, wife, and grandmother rather than before when she was candidate for Unites States VP...A lot of things can happen in 4 years and I think it is way too early to be discussing 2012 candidates. It encourages the whole idea of politicians betting on the stimulus bill failure for future "told you so" satisfaction, even though we seriously have to be fixing the economy.