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Forceful, unapologetic articulation is a new requirement for Republicans: it is not only a good track record or voting record, conservatives also demand the ability to forcefully articulate conservative principles. Just ask Texas Governor Rick Perry.

So, who should Newt pick for a Vice President? It's never to early to start lobbying for this. We don't want a "Quayle" pick after all we've been through getting Newt this far. Natural Born Citizen's need only apply.

Newt Gingrich tells a tele-townhall that Sarah Palin is someone to be considered for the Vice Presidency or Energy Secretary. Caller: If you’re fortunate enough to be nominated, would you consider having Sarah Palin as your running mate? Gingrich: She is certainly one of the people you would look at. I am a great admirer of hers and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska, she’s somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be one of the possibilities.

While there’s still a lot of road ahead in the 2012 presidential race, one fact is already clear: The eventual GOP nominee is probably going to leave a certain number of conservative Republicans wary, or even skeptical. The selection of a running mate will be even more important than usual, as it will be the biggest decision of the campaign and the clearest signal the nominee can send to GOP doubters looking for reassurance. For Mitt Romney, numerous conservatives just don’t trust him. Between the health-care plan and individual mandate that he signed into law in Massachusetts and the leftover...

Herman Cain named Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) as potential running mates should he secure the Republican presidential nomination for the 2012 election. Speaking Thursday on "The Steve Gill Show," Cain outlined the qualities he would like in a running mate, and then, unprovoked, offered specific names. “There are some people in Congress that are very, very good, that I respect and admire and that I would love to have on my team,” Cain said. “Whether that would be in a V.P. slot or in a key Cabinet slot … I’ll give you a name —...

In 2008, Mitt Romney received a glowing endorsement from a popular talk-radio host. “Mitt Romney’s leadership credentials offer the best hope of a leader with substance, and the best hope for a good president who could turn out to be great,” the talk-show host noted in an opinion column, pointing to Romney’s business background, Olympic leadership experience, and life largely spent outside politics. That was Herman Cain, then doing an Atlanta-based talk-radio program. According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Cain and Romney currently lead the GOP field. In Facebook lingo, the two frontrunners have a “complicated” relationship. Beyond a...

NEW YORK – ...........The details of Cain's 15-minute presentation to 500 or more movers and shakers in the Big Apple were considered "off the record," but WND can report that after the presentation, Cain received a standing ovation from the assembled crowd. ......Cain drew parallels to former President George H.W. Bush, who in 1980 lost the nomination to Ronald Reagan but signed on to become his vice president: "If it is the right nominee, someone that I can respect and that I believe I can work with," Cain said of accepting the vice presidential nomination, "then I would obviously seriously...

The battle for the Republican presidential nomination is just heating up. But the choice of running mate is as good as settled, at least if the Beltway buzz is to be believed. Many party insiders feel that the attractions of Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) for the second spot on the ticket are irresistible. “Right now, he is head and shouders above everybody else,” Florida-based GOP strategist Rick Wilson told The Hill. (Wilson supported Rubio during his 2010 Senate bid, but did not work for the campaign.) Garlands have been hurled Rubio’s way with conspicuous frequency in the past few weeks.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney recounts an amusing tale in his soon-to-be released autobiography about how his dog, Dave, was banned from the main lodge at Camp David for attacking the president’s dog, Barney. A source provided The Daily Caller with a copy of the passage in Cheney’s book, “In My Time.” In the text, Cheney writes that Dave, his one-hundred-pound yellow Labrador, often joined him on trips to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. But Dave got himself into some trouble one particular morning when Cheney brought him along to breakfast at Laurel, the lodge where most official...

Once Texas Governor Rick Perry got in the race for president, the election dynamics changed overnight.  He immediately shot up to number one, where I expect he will stay if he and the campaign can work out the early kinks. It is now essentially a two-person race between Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  And given the general Republican discontent with Romney—especially his flip-flops on issues like abortion and for creating the prequel to ObamaCare in Massachusetts—I think Perry will win the nomination. But Perry’s late entry and rise in the polls revived the hope that some other possible...

I have been saying it via my tagline since Nov 3rd, 2008, IMHO Sarah's VP choice should be Alan Mulally CEO of Ford Motor Company.… He would be the penultimate out of the box choice for the following reasons:* He is the penultimate CEO in the nation if not the world.* IMHO he is the turn-around expert and would be the best choice to help downsize and streamline Government like he did at Ford to the tune of 40%.* Not a Gov’t Insider, has no “GS” career or pension to worry about * Would carry Michigan and possibly OH, IN,...

At a fundraiser yesterday, Former Massachusetts Governor and current contender for the GOP presidential nomination Mitt Romney said his short list for the Vice President is "[Virginia Governor Bob] McDonnell, Governor [Chris] Christie of New Jersey and [Senator] Marco Rubio of Florida." Obviously Mr. Romney is trying to boost the appeal of his candidacy with the many conservatives who find his record lacking, but this premature discussion of a running mate might have the opposite effect.

There's some chatter among some Democrats these days about Joe Biden's future.  Biden, the Obama's administration's comic relief, may not bring enough to the Democrat ticket in 2012 to help Mr. Obama avoid defeat.  The idea that vice presidential candidates drive tickets is amusing.  Yet the idea persists, so freshman New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's name is being floated as Biden's possible replacement. The buzz about Cuomo emanates chiefly from his signing a gay marriage measure into law in the Empire State.  Cuomo's championing gay marriage is, of course, why liberals consider Cuomo vice presidential material -- or even presidential...

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- If Ron Paul were to win the GOP presidential nomination, there's a chance he wouldn't have to worry about geographical balance on his ticket. Paul, a Texas congressman and critic of the Federal Reserve, mentioned a former New Jersey judge and current Fox News talk show host -- Andrew Napolitano -- as a potential running mate, in an interview with TheStreet's Alix Steel in Washington this week. Paul, though, did say he hadn't "thought it through." Andrew Napolitano Judge Napolitano is not only the author of books titled Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When The Government...

In a presidential race there are few decisions more important than who the vice presidential nominee should be and it’s a decision that rests squarely in the hands of the presidential nominee. While very few voters vote for a ticket base solely on this decision it’s still seen by many as that first major judgment call by a nominee and oftentimes becomes a window into what that administration will look like and where the priorities truly lie. First and foremost the goal is to select someone that will do no harm to the ticket. Any amount of baggage, despite its...

US officials have revealed that Osama bin Laden’s diaries contain the rather startling conclusion that he didn’t think Vice President Joe Biden was worth bumping off (hat tip: a tweet from my New York colleague Jon Swaine). According to ProPublica, the Obama administration is briefing that Barack Obama was bin Laden’s the “top target” (no surprise there) while “military chiefs like the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the defense secretary” were also major scalps.

As if NPR needed any more problems: the news organization’s senior VP for development, Ron Schiller, was allegedly caught on film making some very unflattering remarks about Tea Partiers, Republicans, and Zionists, the Daily Caller reported this morning: A man who appears to be a National Public Radio senior executive, Ron Schiller, has been captured on camera savaging conservatives and the Tea Party movement. … In a new video released Tuesday morning by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, are seen meeting with two men who, unbeknownst to the NPR executives, are posing...

Forget about Mitt, Huck and Newt. From its highest levels to the grass roots, the GOP is buzzing over Marco, Bobby and Susana, as well as more than a half-dozen other junior Republican officeholders who have captured the party’s imagination in ways that the current 2012 presidential field hasn’t come close to doing. It’s almost as though there is more excitement over the deep pool of vice presidential prospects than over the emerging roster of presidential candidates, which is largely composed of white, male, former and soon-to-be-former governors, none of them from the biggest battleground states. (Check out POLITICO's 2012...

Question of the day, asked by Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy in response to the latest eruption of Bidenism. “Asked if he would characterize Mubarak as a dictator Biden responded: ‘Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with — with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.’ “ Remember how in 2008 we were told that Biden was such a brilliant choice as running...

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said Thursday that his political future will not involve a run as vice president. “If I decide to run it would be for president, not vice president,” Mr. Pawlenty told the College Republicans group at George Washington University. The former Minnesota governor made the comment as the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination takes shape. Mr. Pawlenty spent the day in D.C. promoting his new book. He keynoted a National Press Club luncheon earlier in the day, and attended a book signing near the White House. As to who he would run with? The...

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So said Joe Biden today on the second-floor bar at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel at a fundraiser for incumbent Democratic NY-1 Rep. Tim Bishop. “Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive,” he said. “In the middle of the Civil War you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. … No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years.” For innovation and business, people don't look towards...

Vice President Biden opened the door a crack to the possibility of a deal with Republican on retaining Bush era tax cuts for some families making more than $250,000 annually. In an interview Friday with Bloomberg Television, Biden said "we're open to speak to the Republicans, if they really mean it. If they're talking about deficit reduction, if they're willing to move. I think there's a possibility." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said earlier in the week that the GOP too would be ready to look for areas of agreement with the White House after the Nov. 2 mid-term...

SNIPPET: "A boat carrying human rights activists from Israel, Germany, the United States and Britain has reportedly set sail for Gaza Sunday, hoping to breach Israel's blockade there and deliver aid."

Vice President Biden suggested Monday evening that Republicans might try to challenge Social Security in court in the same manner they've challenged healthcare reform. The vice president asserted that the GOP could wage a challenge to Social Security's constitutionality over the entitlement program's requirement that all taxpayers participate. Biden noted at a fundraiser for Dan Onorato, the Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, that "Tom Corbett is one of a dozen Republican attorneys general actually suing” to challenge the healthcare law, referring to the state's attorney general and GOP candidate for governor. "I wonder if next it’s Social Security," Biden...

(snip) ... There has been speculation of just such a deal for some time now. The speculation has proved to be accurate. The Obama White House is very concerned with the possibility of Hillary Clinton seeking the nomination in 2012. Very-very concerned, and for good reason. Democratic Party supporters – I’m talking some very deep pockets and very considerable influence, have been engaging in some speculative chatter of that nature for a while. When that happens, its a warning shot at the White House that says to them you better get things back on track or we are going to...

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SNIPPET: "Iranian parliament member Mahmoud Ahmadi Bigesh said Wednesday that Egypt has promised to issue entry permits for him and three of his fellow parliament members, who want to enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing."

As President Obama sinks in the polls, Democrats and liberal pundits inevitably are searching for a scapegoat. The most likely victim appears to be gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden, who has become the focus of speculation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just might replace him on the 2012 Democratic ticket. Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder, his state's first African-American governor, touched off the controversy. Writing at Politico.com last week, Mr. Wilder argued that Mr. Biden's tenure has been undistinguished and chock full of "too many YouTube moments." He charged that Mr. Biden "has continued to undermine what little confidence...

VP Bite Me Gets Thrown Under the BusAugust 3, 2010 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, not only is it the Congressional Black Caucus that's being thrown overboard, so is Vice President Bite Me. Joe Biden is now under the gun. Yesterday in a White House press briefing Robert Gibbs threw him under the bus. Former Virginia governor Doug Wilder threw him under the bus. We'll tell you what Wilder said here in just a second. There's a report out there that John McCain and Tom Coburn did itemizing all of the wasteful Porkulus projects out there. "The Civitas Institute poured through...

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, landed in the Hamptons Friday for a family vacation with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights activist David Bohnett. -snip- According to the White House, Bohnett, who's made large contributions to the Democratic National Committee, is a family friend of the Bidens.

Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Louisiana on Friday to highlight the White House's efforts to help the Gulf Coast recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Mary Landrieu and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin are expected to join Biden at a recreation center in New Orleans' Gentilly neighborhood. Also on Friday, Biden's wife, Jill, is scheduled to tour Delgado Community College in New Orleans.

Vice President Joe Biden's favorable rating has fallen to 42 percent in a new Gallup poll, down from a high of 59 percent just after last year's election. Biden's unfavorable rating in the new poll is 40 percent, up from 29 percent last November. (Eighteen percent of those surveyed say they have no opinion of Biden.) Biden's average favorable rating during his time in office so far is 45 percent -- well below the average 65 percent favorable rating for Vice President Dick Cheney during Cheney's first year in office. Vice President Al Gore's favorable rating during his first year,...

Vice President Joe Biden told the nation's governors Thursday that if the $787 billion stimulus fails, "I'm dead." Biden, who holds regular calls with governors and mayors to chart the progress of the stimulus package, said he was pushing accountability standards purely out of "self-interest." "If it fails, I'm dead," he said.

BORN IN THE USA? Shocker! Judge orders trial on eligibility issue Arguments planned Jan. 11 for major Obama challenge The left cries it's a forgery but cry is all it can do. Let's see... the embossed seal os a forgery, the court stamp is a forgery, the attending Doctor's signature is a forgery, the Supervisor of Obstetics id a forgery and the recorder's signature is a forgery and nattrally the footpront won't match Barack H. Obama's because it's a forgery from a Ken Doll. So this is why Mr. Obama and his crew blew a million bucks trying to hide...

Ooohh... No, please... Not Joe Biden. Team Obama sent out Big-Dog Joe Biden to Republican Whip Eric Cantor's district in Virginia to bash the Minority Whip for attacking Obama's Stimulus bomb. ...140 supporters showed up.

This just in from Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, a frequent purveyor of political anecdotes. She bring us an enlightening one here regarding the (quote) undisclosed location (unquote) we heard lots about in the days after Sept. 11. Here's Eleanor: Ever wonder about that secure, undisclosed location where Dick Cheney secreted himself after the 9/11 attacks? Joe Biden reveals the bunker-like room is at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where Cheney lived for eight years and which is now home to Biden. The veep related the story to his head-table dinner mates when he filled in for President Obama at the Gridiron...

Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.

In the past I have made quite clear my admiration for former Vice President Dick Cheney. So it will come as no surprise that I think his speech today at the American Enterprise Institute was pitch perfect. But I will say something stronger: I think that if somebody came to the subject fresh, with no preconceived notions, and watched (as so many of us did) President Barack Obama and Cheney back to back today, dueling across town, that open-minded person would believe that Cheney made a far stronger case. And oddly enough, Cheney's very lack of "style points" served only...

Zero Hedge is always happy to discover something rotten in the state of capital markets. We are even happier when others dig independently and come up with their own startling conclusions. Tonight - we are very happy. John Hempton, who writes the insightful blog Bronte Capital, has done some amazing dot connecting in what, if true, and not swept promptly under the carpet by the powers that be, could expose a hedge fund scandal that could rival the Madoff fiasco, for the simple reason that it implicates none other than Barack Obama's right hand man: Joe Biden.

Yikes! What is the implication? He doesn't like being called Vice President or that he doesn't like being Vice President? Maybe he feels just like I do; I said the exact same thing when Obama announced Biden as his running mate last summer! My man Jake Tapper reports: At an event at Union Station today where Vice President Joe Biden was heralding the $1.3 billion in investments in rebuilding train stations and passenger rails, a microphone picked up one of the former senator's myriad Senate colleagues addressing him, formally, as "Mr. Vice President." That met with Vice President Biden's standard...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The wife of Vice President-elect Joe Biden let it slip that her husband had a pick of two jobs in the Obama administration.

Gov. Sarah Palin's home church has been badly damaged in a suspicious fire. Larry Kroon, pastor of the Wasilla Bible Church, estimates damages at more than $1 million to the church. Kroon declined to say if the blaze was politically based or directed at Palin, the failed Republican vice presidential candidate. Kroon says the fire broke out Friday night while a small group of women were working on crafts. They were alerted to the blaze by a fire alarm. Kroon says he was called and by the time he got to the church, smoke was pouring out of the building....

The chasm between those who want President-elect Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate to verify his eligibility to hold the nation's highest office and those who simply support the Democrat is widening. "The Constitution means what we today decide it means," opined one participant on a new WND forum that offers readers an opportunity to express their opinion on the birth certificate dispute.

Vice-president elect Joe Biden Fargo, North Dakota, Nov 22, 2008 / 02:14 pm (CNA).- Following the Fall meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops in Baltimore, where they pledged not to yield ground to the incoming Obama administration on the issue of abortion, Bishop Samuel Aquila has revealed that vice president-elect Joe Biden is struggling with his conscience over his support for abortion.Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston, Minnesota and Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota are just two of the bishops who have increased their efforts to speak more forcefully and clearly on the issue of abortion over the...

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama achieved a historic breakthrough with his election as America’s first black president. But his running mate made a little history too. After a campaign featuring much talk of “Joe Sixpack” and “Joe the Plumber,” the Democratic victory in Tuesday’s presidential election ensured America will have its first “Joe the Vice President." When Joe Biden is sworn in as the 47th vice president on Jan. 20, he will follow in the footsteps of five Johns, three Georges, three Thomases and three Charles (including two in a row) who occupied America’s second-highest office. Among other vice presidential first...

Sarah Palin's interview with Chris Plante will be aired at 9:25 a.m. this morning...

Network coverage of Palin has moved beyond criticism to outright ridicule. Strikingly, all three networks have repeatedly aired clips of Palin being parodied by a comedy show, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, leading to concerns that many Americans are confusing the real Palin with SNL’s figure of fun. When have comic impressions of a political figure ever qualified as hard news? CMI reviewed network news coverage of Palin for the two weeks beginning September 29 and ending October 12, the period before and after the October 2 vice-presidential debate. We found that ABC, NBC and CBS have been stridently critical of...

The familiar refrain of "Drill, baby, drill" has become a rallying cheer at all John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign events. It puts an exclamation mark on the GOP ticket's all-of-the-above energy policy. That policy calls for tapping all of America's bountiful energy resources, including renewables and other alternatives. When McCain and Palin make appearances in the coal belt of the eastern states, the mantra is expanded to include, "and mine, baby, mine." Due credit: The chorus of "Drill, baby, drill" was first heard at the GOP convention when former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele took his turn at the...

“Like the Republican candidate, I am a native of the American West who lives outside the continental 48. I drop my G’s. I can see my enemy from my front porch. I love the United States of America. I have a familiarity with and, I confess, a fondness for firearms. I believe in God. “So when Sarah Palin runs for president, as many pundits and, for that matter, plumbers, believe she someday will, I want to ask her a favor. “Speak to me. “I promise to listen.” This man speaks reality. Regardless of what the scores of liberal feeds tell...