Our friend and partner Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post is already sizing up the 2012 GOP presidential contender field, and his Top 10 is worth checking out. We think some of his commentary of the dark horse candidates is more interesting than his predictable top three, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in formation. Who do you think would win a debate between Marco Rubio and Haley Barbour? You’ve probably heard that Colorado is not considered flyover country in 2012, so there will be a quiz later.
Though we have to say, any list that is seriously ranking Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee as contenders is due for some winnowing. Where’s Tom Tancredo?
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Cillizza is picking the GOP field, so Tancredo doesn’t get to participate – he’s all ACP all the time.
Maybe Cillizza needs an ACP or Tea Party contender field too.
Mitt Romney at no. 1? Sarah Palin at no. 2? Newt Gingrich?
I was struck by the absence of Bobby Jindal. I thought his stock was rising again.
Huck consistently polls in the top three in the important states. The club for growth may not be behind him, but he’s got plenty of support elsewhere – christians and pragmatists. He would make a good candidate, and deserves to be on the list for sure.
He’s got the hillbilly and fundie vote LOCKED. Doesn’t he actually play the banjo or something?
But what kind of jokes will the French make if we elect President Huckabee?
What awesome trollbait!
Which is actually pretty cool. But his conservative credentials wouldn’t jive well with the newly entrenched Tea Party overlords because, while he is along their ideological lines when it comes to social issues, he had the gaul to actually call for tax increases to pay for things.
and I’m not a Huckabee fan by a long shot because of his brand of politics but your characterization of his lack of worth because he’s a hillbilly do a lot of good people a disservice.
Real Republicans will still vote, and there will be plenty of fiscal crazies to choose from
his “Willy Horton” problem.
He’ll poll well, raise a bit of money, and look like a contender early on and then collapse like a house of cards as soon as votes begin to be cast.
By R standards, he wasn’t just modereate, he was liberal. with the Rs lunging to the ultra-right, there was never a chance of him surviving the early rounds of Iowa, N.H., So. Carolina. The New York based media simply overrates any N.Y.
based candidate. I remember when John Lindsay ran for the D nomination in 72. I was working for UPI and they asked us to survey the state to guess his potential delegates. I did so and reported that he appeared to not win any but might conceivably get one. The New York Office refused to believe that. In the event, he got a halfdelegate — an uncommitted that Shirley Chisholm and Lindsay forces combined to elect.In terms of being actually nominated: please, god. Please. Please. I know I haven’t been very good lately, but please let the Rs nominate Gingrich. How about Gingrich/Palin?
911.
There was a time when that played well. Nowadays, it’s just a reminder that he hired the mafia to clean up the debris.
You had a situation where 25-30% of Republicans polled early on knew him as the 9/11 guy and would take him over that Mormon Romney or McCain the RINO asshole. His early polling helped him make inroads with donors in DC and NY who he was already on good terms with and it all just ended up creating an illusion that he was more viable then he really was. That’s why his bubble burst as soon as people started paying attention.