Rasmussen's poll of likely Republican voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination provided a bit of entertainment across the blogosphere today.
Here are the results:
Not much of a surprise, really.Huckabee seems to have gained from the some of the public's increasing negative opinion of Sarah Palin. Meanwhile, Romney has remained relatively stagnant from Rasmussen's last poll.
Pawlenty gets a little bit more love than before, but likely not what he was hoping for considering his massive PR effort this past month.
But what strikes me is the unfortunate reliance on 'retreads' for the nomination. Other than Pawlenty, there are no new names on the list.
Well, I like to consider the 3BP reader more educated than the regular voting public. After all, if you're reading this blog 13 months before a midterm election, you must really like politics.
Below you'll see that I've created a poll that includes a larger variety of potential GOP candidates for the nomination than you see in the above Rasmussen poll. I imagine most of you will have a good idea about each of these individuals, but here is a little cheat sheet on each, in alphabetical order:
Haley Barbour: Governor of Mississippi currently in his second term. Recognized for budget successes as well as solid leadership in Katrina aftermath. Former RNC Chairman during the 1994 GOP revolution. Some concern regarding age and lobbying history.
Liz Cheney: Daughter of the former Vice President. Served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs during Bush Administration. Founder of KeepAmericaSafe.com. Well spoken intellectual, but with little background in governing. May not be interested in 2012, but clearly is working to build her profile.
Mitch Daniels: Governor of Indiana currently serving in his second term. Recognized for keeping Indiana in high standing during recession and putting the state on good
economic footing. Former OMB director under Bush.
Newt Gingrich: Former Speaker of the House. "Idea Man" within the Republican Party. Personal life includes potential pitfalls.
Mike Huckabee: Former Governor of Arkansas and Presidential candidate. Current host of his own show on Fox. Some concern among conservatives regarding fiscal management during tenure as Governor.
Bobby Jindal: Governor of Louisiana currently serving first term. Known as a brilliant policy man, but received bad reviews of his response to Obama's first nationally televised speech. Faces difficult campaign calendar with gubernatorial re-election campaign running into the 2012 primary season.
Sarah Palin: Former Governor of Alaska and VP nominee. You already know all you need to know.
Tim Pawlenty: Governor of Minnesota currently serving in his second term. Has already signed a number of campaign veterans for his 2012 run and set up a PAC to promote his potential candidacy. Consistently balanced state budget without raising taxes, but some concern about possible moderate tendencies such as a flip-flop on cap & trade.
Mike Pence: Current Congressman from Indiana and favorite of budget hawks. Considered a dark horse, but has shown interest in running for the nomination.
Gen. David Petraeus: Current commander of CENTCOM. The great unknown. While he has shown little to no interest in running, his name has been thrown into the hat by many political commentators.
Mitt Romney: Former Governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate. A favorite of many fiscal conservatives. Some concern regarding flip flops on social issues and creation of Romneycare, his health care reform effort from his time as Governor.
John Thune: Current Senator from South Dakota. Ousted Tom Daschle in 2004. A well-spoke conservative, but not well known and has shown little indication of creating any organization to advance his candidacy in 2012.
Alright, there you have it. Feel free to add other options in the comments. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
Michele Bachmann. She's hot and she's from Minnesota where she can see Canada from her back porch.
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