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The GOP’s Deep Bench

by Josh Kahn | August 29, 2008 at 12:22 PM
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With Sarah Palin now on the ticket the GOP hasn’t just landed an excellent VP nominee, we’ve added one more contender to our already deep bench of potential ‘12/’16 presidential candidates.  Bobby Jindal tops my personal list along with Tim Pawlenty and now Sarah Palin but a lot of people would add Mitt Romney and Mark Sanford as well.

Who’ve the Democrats got?  Joe Biden (::chortle::), Kathleen Sebelius (female but underwhelming speaker), Janet Napolitano (ditto), Evan Bayh (as if the D’s will nominate a moderate), Bill Richardson (what was that people said about Al Gore, oh right, grew a beard and got fat) and Mark Warner (let’s just say there’s a reason he dropped out this time around).  

I’d take our bench in a second. 

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Comments

A Party to get Pumped About!

Submitted by Kristen Soltis on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 12:37.

I'm not going to lie - while I think Romney, Pawlenty, etc represent competent, capable leaders with great deals of experience...

I am truly energized about being in the party of Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin.

With Jindal keynoting (if Gustav cooperates) and Palin as VP, I haven't felt this proud of my party in a while.  Can't wait for Minneapolis!

 

Even if Gustav doesn't cooperate, Jindal still an RNC rockstar

Submitted by lagomorph on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 13:24.

who will help us win votes in November from disillusioned Republicans, Indies and conservative Democrats.  Why?  Because he will not fail the great state of Louisiana, that's why.  Whether he is able to provide a great speech or  provide great leadership during a time of incredible danger and fear, he will come on strong and help pull this party out of its torpor. 

I love being part of the Party of Jindal, Palin, Cantor, Culberson, Jones (Rep fighting to keep soldiers' photos in his hallway as Pelosi removes them daily), Smith (Rep who helped rescue two little NJ girls from Georgia), Boehner, Hoekstra, Fox, Capito, Toomey, McCotter, Mack, Schmidt, Lingle, Coburn, Hunter,  the list just goes on and on and I love every single one of them.  The Dems say "yes we CAN" but the Conservatives say "yes we DO".  There is no can, there is only do or not do.

Conservatives, get fired up!

Submitted by Hope is Not A Foreign Policy on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 13:04.

Over at Hope is Not A Foreign Policy, we're all fired up about Sen. McCain's decision to pick Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.  She's a proven executive and reformer--something Joe Biden is not.  She's is a true conservative who puts family and country first.  What an outstanding pick. 

David Axelrod and Larry Sabato, put this in your pipes and smoke it. 

Remember demographics

Submitted by superdestroyer on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 13:14.

If McCain loses, Palin is just the answer to a trivia question.  In addition, by 2016, the number of minority voters will have grown by millions more than white voters.  The problem with having a bench is eventaully Republicans are going to hit a time when 50% of the voters will not vote for them no matter what. 

When McCain promotes open borders and amnesty, he is killing any hope for a conservative party to exist in the U.S.   At least Senator Obama is smart enough to realize that each additional immigrant put of the fast track to citizenship becomes an automatic Democratic Party voters in the future.  Senator McCain is too stupid to understand this. 

Of course, in eight years it is more than likely that at least half of your list will be invovled in a scandal or shown to be incapable of actually leading.  then the few remaining Republicans will be running around hyping underachievers and inexperienced candidates like they are doing in 2008.

 

Other Conservative Stars on the Bench to Consider

Submitted by prairiefreedom on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 17:49.

Other great Republicans we have on the bench that we should keep in mind:

  -Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN)

  -Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)

  -Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

  -Senator John Sununu (R-NH), if he wins re-election this year

  -Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)

  -Senator John Thune (R-SD)

  -Governor John Hoeven (R-ND)

  -And, if he can pull off a win this year, Dino Rossi from Washington State

 

 

John Thune is a member of the capitulating Gang of 10

Submitted by lagomorph on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 18:58.

That's the gang of 10 who have been undermining our staycation-minded Republican revolutionaries in Congress pushing Drill Here Drill Now and #dontgo.  It's with great sadness that I say he is no longer a star on my bench.

Jindal the Rock Star!

Submitted by dinafraioli on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 20:50.

Jindal or even Romney would make an amazing candidate for '12/'16 -- Jindal will be a seasoned Governor and Romney could continue on the scene bulding up his conservative credentials.

As for Warner dropping out, that probably had more to do with the Clintons than anything else. But the basic premisis is correct, the D's ain't got S**t!

Deep benches

Submitted by JayPe on Sun, 08/31/2008 - 20:14.

There are deep benches on both sides of the aisle, although a lot of them are currently very promising on the basis of potential (e.g. Jindal) rather than proven ability (e.g. Sanford).

Other GOP potential rising stars not mentioned yet include: Sen DeMint (SC), Sen Coburn (OK), Gov Crist (FL), Gov Hunstman (UT).

However, I disagree that the Dems have a small bench of potential rising stars. They've got the likes of: Gov Kaine, Warner (VA), Gov Schweitzer (Montana), Gov Napolitano (Arizona), Sen McCaskill (Missouri), Sen Tester (Montana), Senator Webb (VA) & Casey (PA).

Would the Dems nominate a centrist like Schweitzer? If Obama loses this time, as a liberal they may be tempted to follow the model of the Dem nominee in 1992, who was a centrist governor following on from a liberal in 1988. So he has a shot.