GOP's future: 2012, here we come
Posted: Monday, November 10, 2008 9:15 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
Politico’s Martin starts looking ahead to 2012. “Too early? Too bad -- just look around. Two potential candidates will be in Iowa before month’s end, multiple prospects -- almost certainly including Sarah Palin -- will make high-profile appearances this week at the Republican Governors Association meeting, and Newt Gingrich’s name has already been floated in a Bob Novak column.”
More: “Huckabee, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, returns to the Hawkeye State Nov. 20 for stops in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to hawk his new book, ‘Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America.’ … Jindal, elected governor of Louisiana in 2007 after serving in Congress and holding health care posts in state and federal government, makes his first trip to Iowa on Nov. 22. He’s keynoting the statewide banquet of the Iowa Family Policy Center, a Christian conservative group, in suburban Des Moines and will tour flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids, offering his insights as a hurricane-state governor to state and local officials.”
The Washington Post’s Cillizza handicaps the candidates for RNC chair. From inside the committee, the candidates include current RNC Chair Mike Duncan, South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson and Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis. Other big names include: Michael Steele and Newt Gingrich. Some wildcards: Jim Nussle and Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman.
Bill Kristol is nervous "It will be tougher yet if they underestimate Obama. His selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff suggests that Obama’s not going to be mindlessly leftist, and that he’s going to shape a legislative strategy that is attentive to Congressional realities while not deferring to a Congressional leadership whose interests may not be his own. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were both tripped up in their first two years by their Democratic Congresses. Obama intends for Emanuel to ensure that that doesn’t happen. And Obama has the further advantage of inheriting a recession that will give him a very tough first year or two (for which he won’t be blamed), but that should be followed by a recovery well timed for his re-election bid.”
“So Obama will be formidable. But conservatives should welcome the challenge. It’s good for conservatism that conservatives will have to develop refreshed ideas and regenerated political skills to succeed in the age of Obama. And it wouldn’t hurt for Governors Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal and the other possible 2012 G.O.P. nominees to begin bringing some puppies home for their kids.”
Jennifer Rubin writes about the awful post-mortems for the GOP and notes, "It is not completely bleak, after all. Unlike drubbings which the GOP took in 1964 or 1974, this defeat still leaves a wealth of resources at the disposal of conservatives -- think tanks, the blogosphere, and talk radio, to name a few. If the remnants of the GOP care to look, they will find a plethora of interesting policy ideas and a vibrant, engaged political audience eager to revive their once-dominant party.
