Generally looked upon as an early introduction to presidential hopefuls it seemed that the list of favorites is a who's who of people not named Mitt Romney (Idaho senator John Thune please stand up).
Romney appears to be one of the favorites having taken the last couple of years off after leaving the governor's mansion in Massachusetts for his last presidential run. His batteries are recharged and he has stayed out of the spotlight recently which is probably a good thing since he favored a mandatory health care reform that mirrors President Obama's and segregated himself from die-hard conservatives.
Ron Paul is back, taking John McCain's place as the old guy that many voters assume hates kids on his lawn. I actually kinda like his gun toting Texas attitude. It's cute like Yosemite Sam. Despite being considered one of the more conservative members of congress especially regarding the second amendment and abortion, he actually opposes radical legislation such as the Patriot Act, federal use of torture and the use of national identification. These views are easily pushed to the right by Paul, citing his firm belief that state governments should have maximum control of social laws.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is essentially Mitt Romney from ten years ago. Well known in republican circles and to his constituents but on a national level his name is just slightly more recognizable than John Thune (sorry Idaho). It'll be interesting to see how he postures himself as time goes on.
John Thune is from Idaho. I'm sorry, I just don't have the time to look this guy up just because he gave a speech. Michelle Bachmann is that chick with weird eyes than can't look into a camera, I think. Rick Santorum just needs to stop talking. He's a fairly young conservative with some potential in the republican party, but his inability to soften his language against gays and clergy will force the party to isolate him.
An interesting (and more personal) candidate may or not be Governor Mitch Daniels from Indiana. Personally I hate this guy. He's in his last term, thank the gods, but hasn't ruled out a push at the presidency. I'm pretty sure he'll try to sell off New Jersey to the French in order to reduce the debt. Selling the toll road is how Indiana has a surplus. Well, how Indianapolis has a surplus. Frankly the guy comes off as a con man.
He spoke of radical changes to social security and medicare; helping the impoverished and ending the war involving social issues. This mindset is going to rally a multitude of Americans who don't want debates over abortion and gay marriage but instead over fixing the deficit and creating more fiscal competence in the federal government.
But if he's so fiscally responsible why did the Bush administration, which hired Daniels as the budget director, create such financial problems? Why is Indiana's budget, although shrinking, relatively successful when it has one of the lowest educational rankings and highest unemployment rates? These issues must be addressed by a man who appears like a white knight in a land of red ink.
So to sum up, I'm not sure how to react to these candidates. I feel like it's similar to the ones running on the democratic side in 2008 minus the perfect storm of Barack Obama (youth, oration and a good smile). Hopefully they have to beat each other up so much in the next eight months that all the ammo is there already for the democrats to jump on.
I'm just glad we didn't have to listen to Sarah Palin.
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