It’s almost spring of 2011… obviously, time to talk about Campaign Season 2012.
Yeah, the one in fall 2012.
Yes, folks, which of the twenty or thirty or so Republican possibilities best fit the bill to challenge our current president? Which is the least likely to offend the people and mishandle deep governmental rifts?
Even better, why are we all talking about Iowa and its caucus — a full YEAR before its occurrence?
Every election featuring an incumbent draws a crowd to the other party (in this case, the GOP) to see which candidate crawls to the top of the pile to play the role of The Challenger. It’s a fairly formidable pile, too, considering how many candidates line up to throw themselves into the fray.
Some are even now considered to be “front-runners” at this premature stage, including familiar faces from 2008 Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and — you guessed it — Sarah Palin. Here’s a more comprehensive look at exactly who comprises the current ‘playing field’:
- Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor
- Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor
- Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor
- Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
- Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor
- Charlie Crist, Florida governor
- Haley Barbour, Mississippi governor
- John Thune, North Dakota senator
- Ron Paul, Texas congressman
Oh, and add to that a non-politically known name that could be tossed in the ring: Donald Trump.
This is just proof that the pool of candidates is truly wide open — and despite this, we still consider this premature period an appropriate kickoff to ‘campaign season.’ It wouldn’t shock me if Jeb Bush came out and ran for President, and maybe he’d choose Elvis Presley as a running mate.
Of course, the Democratic Party has less to worry about in their candidate selection. As the current standings show, the eligible competitors are in a tight race between Barack Obama, Barack Obama and — widely considered a dark-horse choice — Barack Obama.
So in pretty much any 2012 matchup, voters will have to choose between the incumbent party that everyone seems to hate for their current situation, and the party that burned them as recently as 2008, which also serves as the party relentlessly painting themselves as obstinate obstacles to the Obama administration. It’s the choice between those to blame for our mess and those we choose to blame. This, it seems, is truly a fate we can describe as “the lesser of two evils,” here at the beginning of what is always a knock-down drag-out slugfest that Americans will be forced to witness for 18 long months.
Gentlemen, start your engines……
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