Crowded Republican field bodes well for Obama

The burgeoning free-for-all for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination bodes well for President Obama’s reelection.It’s almost as if his chances improve in direct proportion to how many GOP politicians decide it may be their year to run for president.

The more of them, the better. Late 2011 and early 2012 will prove to be a butchering time, as candidates such as the first four names below, try to move further and further right, slashing at the others as not being pure enough (and I root for Michelle Bachman to join the fray), as some others try to dig in and find some sort of center (but who will have to at least tilt right).

There are the battle-tested candidates from the 2008 campaign – Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and maybe Rudy Giuliani – who are the “frontrunners” because they have experience and money. But in addition there are a baker’s dozen and counting of other potential candidates – from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to true nobodies like the former Louisiana congressman and governor, Buddy Roemer, who last held public office in 1992.

Newt? Rudy? They just can't believe people don't give a hoot about them any longer.

The fragmented Republican field reflects a party riven by a tug of war between ideological purists and political pragmatists. It is testimony to the growing conviction that a Republican nominee will not prevail against the incumbent.

I root for internecine warfareamong the Republicans; let the survivor and her or his 25% go up against the President riding the wave of economic recovery.

Palin could mobilize the Republican “base” to win the primaries and then go down in flames in a defeat that would make Barry Goldwater’s 1964 loss to Lyndon Johnson look like a contest. But if Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, the self-appointed congressional spokeswoman for the Tea Party, enters the contest, she would make Palin look like a moderate.

I've love to see those two loons competing to be the purer ideologue.



Romney, who will be 65 in November 2012, spent his Mormon missionary years in France, has lived on the East Coast and is Atlantic-oriented. Huntsman, who will be 52 at the time of the election, spent his missionary years in Taiwan, is from a Western state and is Pacific-oriented. Where does the future lie?