The well positioned man
If Salam and Douthat have someone in mind to fit their perscriptions to cure what ails the GOP, that person would undoubtedly be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. “TPaw,” as he’s known here in the Upper Midwest, all but announced his 2012 presidential candidacy yesterday by announcing he would not run for a third term.
Pawlenty doesn’t have an identifiable base within the party unlike Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul nor can he write checks to his campaign like Mitt Romney. Raising money in these tight economic times will be a problem for him and he’s not connected to any kind big sugar daddies either. Nor has he won a statewide election by a majority of the vote. He can thank the Minnesota Independence Party for his two gubernatorial victories. And he hasn’t been really tested on the national stage yet. But what he does have is the advantage of position. He can legitimately say he can unify all the party’s factions because he can be agreeable to most if not all of them.
Religious minded Republicans will like the fact he opposes abortion and homosexual marriage, although not too dogmatically. The Club for Growth will like the fact he hasn’t raised taxes in Minnesota (unless you smoke heaters or like to pedal on bike paths, in which case he’s raised taxes and fees on you quite a bit in his term but I doubt the Club would be so puritanical to oppose him on it). He is of Croatian decent from the working class town of S. St. Paul, son of a truck driver. He has an “aw shucks” and good natured style to him that doesn’t make him foreboding. He’s also young at age 49 and has some potential hipness to him unlike Mitt. Where he stands on foreign policy is anyone’s guess but no doubt he’ll hue a line that will be at least acceptable with the party rank n’ file on such questions (and since no one else in the presumed field will have a lot of foreign policy experience its moot point anyway). His willingness to be a good soldier for the party and run for governor instead of U.S. Senator in 2002 (which was probably the job he really wanted) will please those looking for a good party man. In short, he could be the kind of candidate that lost of people people can read into what they want and support in that fashion.
Looking at Pawlenty closely, one could say he’s a northern version of Mike Huckabee and there are a lot of surface similarities to both men but one crucial difference that could be to Pawlenty’s advantage. Huckabee’s “downscale” GOP base may very well have been victim class snobbery by the Club for Growth as Larison pointed out last year. Pawlenty would not suffer from such attacks because he came up politically through the Twin Cities suburbs rather than rural Arkansas. Pawlenty started his career as a city councilman in the middle class Minneapolis suburb of Eagan before going to the state legislature and then to the governor’s mansion. He abandoned Catholicism for a suburban evangelical megachurch. Pawlenty better fits the profile of the kind of voter the GOP is looking to attract rather than someone from the rural South who would vote for the GOP candidate no matter who or what they were. That may seem regionally bigoted but it’s the truth. If Huckabee and Paul’s problem is they fit too well into defined bases, if Romney’s problem is that he’s too establishment, too wealthy and (again bigoted) too Mormon to win the GOP nomination and Palin’s problem is that she’s too base raw and a vice-presidential loser to win, then going with Pawlenty as a comprise choice may be very attractive to ordinary, non-ideological, plain and ordinary GOP voters.
Oh, there’s also a tactical advantage Pawlenty has as well. He lives right next door to Iowa and not being governor will give him plenty of time to campaign there.
Mike Huckabee will win the 2012 Presidential Elections and become the 45th US President.
In just a few months since the elections, his fan base has grown exponentially. From coast to coast, the Huckabee Fans keep multiplying. As of June 1, 2009, there are 50 States of Huckabee Fans that span over 319 counties in America. That’s more than 10% of all the counties in America already. The group is targetting 25% by Autumn 2009 and 50% by next spring.
/>>> http://www.freewebs.com/huckapedia
/>>> http://www.huckapedia.webs.com
If the links do not show above then google: Huckabee Fan Club
Check out the constantly updated U.S. and county map of how the Huckabee movement in growing in America. There will be a Huckabee Fan in every county of every state in America working to help elect Mike Huckabee as the 45th President of the United States of America. There is no other group more energized than the Huckabee Fans. No hill is too high for a Huckabee Fan to climb.
1,000 small steps by Huckabee Fans and 1 Gigantic step for Mike Huckabee!
To Huckapedia,
You’re living in a fantasy world. There’s no way that Republicans will choose Huckabee, and he would get crushed in a national election.
Huckabee exemplifies everything that is wrong with the GOP.
I like Sanford, but Pawlenty might work. Foreign policy is the dealbreaker with me though.
We NEED Dr. Paul. His movement has grown a lot since the last election, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that he’s been right this whole time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k92fTDReHg
I fervently disagree with the conclusion that Ron Paul has “too well defined” a base. I’ve known Democrats and Independents who have cut their party ties as if they were apron strings and jumped at the chance to campaign for this man forthwith. Heck…one of ‘em was me!
Sorry Tim, but I strongly disagree. Even here in the conservative backwater of New York, I am meeting more Huck supporters by the day. He has better favorability ratings than any other nationally recognized Republican and fares better in earlier polling against Obama than any other Republican as well. His television program has increased his visibility and his affability makes him a fan-favorite even on left-leaning programs like the Daily Show. Granted, no one will be surprised by him this time around but his supporters also have a few years to prepare and organize on his behalf. Huckabee could very well take the nomination and the Presidency in 2012.
When will huckabee go away. He was a spoiler in the 2008 elections and will be again. The end result is we ended up with Obama. Please go away Huckabee for the good of the country.
LOL at the Huck fan! You seem to forget that the left leaning media sucked up to McCain the war hero until the primaries were over. They’ll do the same to Huckabee. Heck, maybe he can run with Meghan McCain! The left loves her too, ya know.
But I won’t vote for him. He’s a war monger, supports illegal aliens, and tax increases. Like I said above – he personifies everything that is wrong with the GOP.
Mike Huckabee is the absolute WORST candidate in the GOP. As far as I’m concerned he proved himself a liberal during the primaries when he constantly attacked Mitt Romney for being rich – the typical class warfare used by liberals. He also proved himself a liar when he pretended not to know anything about Mormonism – the keynote speaker in 1998 at the Southern Baptist Convention in Salt Lake City and he claims not to know much about Mormons? I would be willing to bet that if he were to be nominated that Utah and Idaho would turn “blue”! He used the pulpit to campaign and I find him repugnant. He is ethically challenged as well – google his name with ethics violations and see what you get!He is a joke as far as I’m concerned – let him have his TV show and keep him out of the race.
I remember Gov Huckabee saying that first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then they attend your inauguration! I guess we must be at stage three.
Bearing in mind how much Gov Huckabee achieved from a standing start and with very little funds last time round, and with all the dishonest attacks against him….it’s almost inevitable that he’ll win the Republican nomination for 2012.
Well considering the fact I want this country to return back to its constitutional roots I won’t be voting for any of the 2 party shills. I have come to the conclusion that both of the parties are the same. Why am I still paying income tax when its unconstitutional. Why am I paying taxes on a war that was created to keep the dollars dominance over all oil transactions. Why would I vote for someone that panders to the bankers that keep issuing out a currency that inflates at a rate of 8% a year. So please tell me why I would vote for any of these idiots that just care about filling their own pocket and don’t give a damn about the American people. The only republican I will ever vote for is a Ron Paul republican that wants to get back to the constitution. So please people educate Yourself on the real issues instead of the issues that they want You to fight over.