2012 Scenario

[Reaganfan]

President Barack Obama is vulnerable as he runs for re-election. America still has this fixation on hating all Government and disapproving everything from Obama/Biden to the Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

Obama's approval rating hovers between 40 and 50%.

Gov. Sarah Palin was re-elected Governor of Alaska in 2010 (a year in which Republicans made some small but sizeable gains).

Is she the best bet to compete against President Obama? I can picture her raising money like crazy, raising huge grassroots and crowds, and competing well oratorically. Only Romney might be able to do somewhat as well as Palin.

Trust me, of the 20,000 people at the rally in a suburb of Ohio yesterday, a majority were probably women who wouldn't have been there without Sarah. She got 60,000 people in a quickly planned Florida rally.

And she is just the running mate.

[Wall St. Wiz]

Nope, I fear she has been Quayled and her reputation tarnished permanently.  I can see her becoming a senator down the road if she chooses, but that's about it.  Jindal is the future of the GOP.

[J. J.]

Whatever party wins in 2008 will lose in 2012, badly.  That is my prediction.

Palin can win, if she loses this time, and she has not been close to the Quayle situation.

[Daniel Z]

If/when McCain/Palin loses in 2012, that will be the last time Palin will be serious on the national level. She has become a joke everywhere outside the far right, and I even know many conservatives who cringe at the very mention of her name. And why nominate some one so weak when you guys will have a huge list of better candidates to run nationaly?

[Horus]

Jindal is the future of the GOP.

Then they don't have much of one.

[Daniel Z]

Whatever party wins in 2008 will lose in 2012, badly.  That is my prediction.

Palin can win, if she loses this time, and she has not been close to the Quayle situation.

I don't think you can assume that. If the economy starts to turn around during the last year or two during the next President's administration even if it still is not that strong, I think he will have a good chance at re-election. Especialy if the other party nominates an inarticulate extremist. Again why nominate Palin when the Republican party has many many better options.

[Reaganfan]

Whatever party wins in 2008 will lose in 2012, badly.  That is my prediction.

Palin can win, if she loses this time, and she has not been close to the Quayle situation.

I don't think you can assume that. If the economy starts to turn around during the last year or two during the next President's administration even if it still is not that strong, I think he will have a good chance at re-election. Especialy if the other party nominates an inarticulate extremist. Again why nominate Palin when the Republican party has many many better options.

Trust me...I was skeptical of Palin...but after that debate and after seeing how many people she alone turns out in rallies and how much money she raises...she's fantastic.

[War on Want]

Whatever party wins in 2008 will lose in 2012, badly.  That is my prediction.

Palin can win, if she loses this time, and she has not been close to the Quayle situation.

I don't think you can assume that. If the economy starts to turn around during the last year or two during the next President's administration even if it still is not that strong, I think he will have a good chance at re-election. Especialy if the other party nominates an inarticulate extremist. Again why nominate Palin when the Republican party has many many better options.

Trust me...I was skeptical of Palin...but after that debate and after seeing how many people she alone turns out in rallies and how much money she raises...she's fantastic.

finish the sentance with rural conservative evangelicals and I agree.

[Sensei]

if the economy takes a depressionesque turn in the early stages of the Obama administration and stays there until 2012, whichever Republican gets elected is going to be the new Ronald Reagan.

[Person Man]

It will be funny as hell if McCain gets a huge "Bradley Effect" and wins the election....and then things will just finish collapsing. The narrative will go that Republicans are incompetent and Democrats are unelectable. I love it!

[pbrower2a]

Whatever party wins in 2008 will lose in 2012, badly.  That is my prediction.

Palin can win, if she loses this time, and she has not been close to the Quayle situation.

I don't think you can assume that. If the economy starts to turn around during the last year or two during the next President's administration even if it still is not that strong, I think he will have a good chance at re-election. Especialy if the other party nominates an inarticulate extremist. Again why nominate Palin when the Republican party has many many better options.

Trust me...I was skeptical of Palin...but after that debate and after seeing how many people she alone turns out in rallies and how much money she raises...she's fantastic.

She energizes the base and offends the others.  Any candidate who casts off the moderate vote in a two-party electoral system loses... badly. I don't care what enthusiasm she inspires among Republicans; she simply can't expand the base or convince the rest of us.


Goldwater. McGovern.

And that's before I even discuss the economic and diplomatic conditions of this country  in October and November 2012.

Goldwater. McGovern. Easy to paint into the corner as an extremist.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Nope, I fear she has been Quayled and her reputation tarnished permanently.  I can see her becoming a senator down the road if she chooses, but that's about it.

Yes, exactly.