Here's a Wall Street Journal article describing yet one more of the people who have been discussed as potential Republican candidates for POTUS dropping out of the race before it even begins.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...sreel_politics

On one of the radio talk shows I was listening to today, the panelists opined that neither Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin would choose to run for financial reasons. Both have become very wealthy with book deals, speaking fees and TV contracts, and the panelists opined that they may not be willing to give up their newfound wealth. The panelists noted that Palin had accumulated over $20 million just since resigning from the Alaska governorship less than two years ago.

My goodness, who will represent the GOP on the 2012 ticket? Here's a list of prospective candidates. There's a handful on this list that I've never heard of!

http://2012.republican-candidates.org/

Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich seem to be carrying a heavy load in appealing to religious conservatives, notwithstanding the fact that both are politically well-qualified. So who are we left with? Donald Trump, Michelle Bachmann, Ron Paul? Johnson, Karger, Miller, Wuensch...who are those guys anyway?

I guess hope must spring eternal that someone new arrives on the scene. Tim Pawlenty? Mitch Daniels? Or maybe Chris Christie or Michael Bloomberg (I hope)? I wonder how many of them even have campaign committees put together for the early primaries which are so crucial in winning the nomination? It's beginning to look like 2012 might be a one-candidate race. How can a party which so convincingly swept the 2010 mid-term elections find itself with such a void of leadership?

The best candidates are listed in the ‘declined’ category: The strongest ones are (1) Jeb Bush – a much better leader and more likeable than his brother; (2) Chris Cristie – so popular that he could be drafted at the convention; (3) David Petraus – the man Obama most fears and has consequently appointed to head the CIA in the hope that he won’t run; (4) Marco Rubio – 2012 is not his natural time, but rather 2016 - however, an incredibly effective campaigner who would easily take the Latino vote, thereby destroying Obama’s base. Rubio is a much more likely a VP candidate where he would again destroy Obama’s Latino support.

Looks like the money folks who line up to purchase the Presidency (again), have begun to realize that anyone affiliated with the Republican party in the last few years is tarred with the same brush: the total failure to deliver on party promises in 2010.

"We are going to cut spending and the deficit, repeal Obamacare, protect Social Security and Medicare, while financing it all with continuation of the Bush tax cuts."

What a crock! (and a tragedy that many believed them.)

To early to really get fired up about anyone. Just sit back and wait to see who's left after the dust settles.

Mike Huckabee, to a limited degree, and Sarah Palin, to a much larger degree (among many other voices), will be instrumental in rallying the religious right and the conservatives and the fiscal moderates to the debate, to the battle, and to the polls.

My dream ticket would be Chris Christie and Alan West. Doesn't look like it'll happen, so we wait and we watch and we listen. It's very early yet.

Well, now Huckabee says he's out and Christie has maintained a position that he's still trying to fix New Jersey.

Looks like another GOP problem is finding someone who CAN run, as many possibly decent candidates have a lot of reasons to NOT run. Then again, I've long commented that, even if I were in the position, I wouldn't run for the job. There's no way I would put my family through what the press puts them through, in addition to having events from 30 years ago being dragged up as if they were current (no, nothing on the scale of Chappaquiddick but I had problems in my late teens and early 20s).

Originally Posted by RichieLion

"...My dream ticket would be Chris Christie and Alan West. Doesn't look like it'll happen, so we wait and we watch and we listen. It's very early yet."

My dream ticket would be Chris Christie and Rick Perry.

Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

My dream ticket would be Chris Christie and Rick Perry.

Good to see you again. I agree that Rick Perry would be an outstanding for VP. Heck!!, he would be a great person to have running at the head of the Republican Ticket. He certainly has to courage to put forward "radical" ideas to repair and take this country back from the brink.

I just like the fire of Alan West. His ability to move and inspire a crowd when he speaks. Biden will wish he stayed home in bed rather than debate Col. West.

Here's a good Newsweek article (hard to believe i just wrote that) on Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-ga...-platform.html