Posted on 06/09/2011 7:06:35 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
By this criteria, Palin, Perry (ugh), Huntsman (BARF!!).
Surely, other factors come into play like their issue stances and records, but from an electoral standpoint, those are the ones that are going to have a real shot.
He’s had some flirtations with global warming and I’m not fully convinced that he’s capable of making the changes we need to fix the mess we’re in, but there’s nothing overtly wrong with Pawlenty. If you can stay awake while doing it, by all means, watch away! :)
Whenever I hear Pawlenty, I think polenta. In other words, “mush”.
I’ll give you one reason... Pawlenty sat back and allowed the MN DFL to steal the Senate seat for Al Franken. How about another... was his pull and influence so strong that did he leave the state in the hands of a solid Republican successor ? Nope. The Franken clone, the imbecilic, rich Socialist nutjob ex-Senator who hid under his desk during 9/11, Mark Dayton, now occupies his office. Yeah, that’s two real great accomplishments.
BTW, Sonny Perdue is the former Governor of Georgia.
T-Paw is obviously not very popular ‘round here and I hardly love him myself.
But unlike say Romney or Newt or Hunstman he is
A)Someone I could actually vote for without vomiting first.
B)Could actually beat Obama
Our choices are limited.
I can’t think of any.
Don’t make your bet just yet Hoss.
The whole fight card ain’t printed yet.
Of course, if money is burning a hole in your pocket, I’ll take your wager. You take Teehee Paw and I get anybody else.
So how about it sport? $100 to FR is the bet to you.
Pawlenty’s plan is just a rip-off of Palin’s detailed, multi-step, deeply researched road map to recovery.
“he can’t bring his home state to the table”
Not necessarily. In 2006, Pawlenty was the only Minnestoa Republican to win statewide, even though a third party candidate siphoned votes away from him. He ran at leats 80,000 votes ahead of every other Republican running for statewide office that year. He ran over 200,000 votes ahead of his party’s nominee for U.S. Senate, who was running in an open seat race. And you have to remember that 2006 was a perfect storm against Republicans in many of the northern tier states.
It’s true Pawlenty might not be able to win his own state. But he’d stand a better chance at that than anyone else and would force them to spend money there effort there. And he should be able to win it’s more Republican neighbors Iowa and Wisconsin.
Ain’t my first choice but he’s viable fall back option for myself.
Do you think Pawlenty’s stance against ethanol subsidies would hurt him in Iowa and Wisconsin in the general election?
You can be sure that Obama will be out there promising those states plentiful ethanol subsidies as far as the eye can see.
Not that Pawlenty should change his stance. Ethanol subsidies need to stop. They drive up the cost of food for everyone for the benefit of a select few.
Possibly, but whoever the nominee is will lose more votes from conservatives if they support them. The jury is back on that issue, the subsides are horrible. Steve King is against ethanol subsidies, a stance he just reiterated.
I’m not so afraid of losing a few selfish farmers who want a government handout so bad it can turn their vote.
Nevada democrats were positive in 2004 that GOP support for Yucca Mountain (place to dump nuclear waste) would cost Bush the state when in fact voters didn’t care.
Well, *I* like him. Tim Pawlenty may not be the most inspiring orator, but he is a conservative who can (i) win and (ii) stand up to Democrats. President Bush’s biggest problem was that he was used to good-ol’-boy Democrats from Texas with whom he’d have to haggle to get stuff passed when he was governor; Pawlenty, on the other hand, used his veto pen to shut down the government and shove spending cuts down Minnesota moonbat liberal legislators’ throats. He knows how to win elections in tough terrains, and he knows how to govern with a powerful disloyal opposition—what other GOP candidate can make that claim?
It's also reason number 89948433 that Romney is a crap candidate.LOL!
Now, that being said, Pawlenty's far from my first choice but his overall platform IS conservative and he's consistently held those views. As a plus, he's certainly more conservative than the average Minnesotan, unlike Romney and Perry whose ideology seems to change depending on when they're running. Romney was a ultra-liberal because Massachusetts was ultra-liberal, and Perry is a tough talking conservative "patriot" because Texas is full of tough talking conservative patriots. Both have held different "values" elsewhere in their political career. And yes, Pawlenty is "electable", winning statewide in Minesota in 2006 was much tougher than anything pretty boy Rick Perry had to face in Texas. Minnesota would still be difficult to win with him as the nominee, but I think he's probably the only announced candidate in the GOP field right now who could make it competitive. He's also probably the best Governor in the Presidential race now. Of course, that's not saying much since we have a bunch of weak-ass, uninspiring candidates.
Pawlenty's on my short list of only 4 or 5 or so "acceptable", candidates, I still can't find anyone to get excited about. Bolton, Bachmann, and Cain would probably get my vote before Pawlenty would. (if the choice was Pawlenty or Perry, I trust Pawlenty more and think he'd have a better shot at winning states that aren't safely Republican). Knowing the way primary elections unfold though, there's a good chance by the time Illinois votes the only people will be something like Romney, Pawlenty, or Ron Paul. I might have to hold my nose for Pawlenty if it comes down to that.
By the time I vote as well (PA), the primaries will be all over except for the cigar.
I don’t see anything special that Perry brings to the contest. TX is going to go GOP no matter who the candidate is. Some people might even think, “Oh, no, not another Texan - enough already.”
Agreed on Perry. He has been a mediocre governor and if he gets in it will just muddy up the field more and splinter the conservative vote more, making it easier for a RINO like Romney to win the nomination (or make it easier to Obama to win the general election if Perry emerges as our nominee). He’s “acceptable” but there’s absolutely no reason for him to enter the race and nothing special he could bring to the primaries. As I’ve said, he’s kind of a blend of Romney and Pawlenty, minus the ablity to win in state’s that aren’t safely Republican.
Unfortunately, he seems to the conservative flavor of the week now (after Trump exited and Cain fumbled) and has been getting considerably buzz from national known conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. There’s very little chance he’d run if they weren’t hyping him, but now he seems more and more likely to jump into the race at their behest. And I don’t think that will be helpful to the goal of nominating a viable conservative against Obama.
The funny thing here is when you look at freepers touting this guy, about 99% of them seem to be from Texas. However, the Texas freepers (and there are alot of them) are deeply divided about Perry. Half of them seem to be in the “Draft Perry” camp, and the other half say he’s been an absolutely horrible RINO Governor and they won’t vote for him for dog catcher. There seems to be a little Texas conservative civil war going on in this forum. Can’t see Perry as a very good candidate when half his home state’s “base” hates his guts. lol
There’s something about the Perry thing that reminds me of Fred Thompson (not personally, just the situation). Conservatives basically drafted Thompson and he never seemed as if he really had all that much passion or drive to be in it.
What about Sarah Palin? Do you think she’ll run? If she does, can she win the GOP nomination? The General Election? I think the movie, “The Undefeated” will help her tremendously if she runs.
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