Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How Not to Emerge as a 2012 GOP Darkhorse

One question: What's worse for a prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidate?
  • Taking an ambassadorial position with the Obama administration.
  • Admitting to having had an extramarital affair.
My hunch is that neither plays terribly well with primary voters on the right. We may be able to mark John Ensign off the list of those in consideration for inclusion on FHQ's candidate emergence tracker in the same way Jon Huntsman was recently removed.


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14 comments:

Jack said...

Voters can forgive this sort of thing (Bill Clinton in his 1992 race, John McCain), but more so if it's in the past, and if they already know something about these politicians. For Ensign, this will probably destroy his candidacy since, unlike Clinton and McCain, this will be the first thing most people have heard about him. Then again, I've been wrong before.

Josh Putnam said...

Indeed. It is better that's it's coming out in 2009 than 2011.

...whether he decides to run for president or simply settle for a re-election campaign for his Senate seat.

Robert said...

You would think this type of thing would be harder for a Promisekeeper who is a strong family values type, but Sarah Palin seems to be using Bristol's situation to her advantage. It is hard to tell. Makes you wonder if the two Johns (Edwards and Ensign)could team up in a fusion ticket.

Josh Putnam said...

I actually had thought about that, Rob. Palin is the rare political actor that can pull something like that off. Ensign? We just don't have that kind of information on him yet. I don't know if he can flip this issue on its head like that. What I do know is what I said before. Better now than later; just ask David Vitter.

I also thought about why the Edwards' matter didn't get any space here at FHQ. I think timing was the main issue there. First, the news emerged well after he was out of the 2008 race and secondly, because of that and the fact that it happened during the revving up of the general election campaign, it was just on the backburner all the way.

What would that fusion ticket be called? Lesson Learned Party?

Robert said...

Well, the John Party would probably not be appropriate. Maybe the Repentance Party or the Firgive and Forget Party or the Second Chance Party.

Jack said...

For a while, every time I saw Ensign on TV, I'd think it was Chris Dodd. I'll say this: It's been a bad year for people who look a lot like Chris Dodd.

Josh Putnam said...

It's been a long day. I needed that laugh, Jack.

Speaking of Chris Dodd, I liked the contrast in these two pieces: Easy or not.

Jack said...

I thought there was enough political humor today.

Robert said...

So if they did the morph commercials from Ensign to Dodd, only the FHQ faithful would get it!

Josh Putnam said...

I am serious...

...and stop calling me Liz?

No, that can't be right. This is.

Jack said...

Very good, Josh.

Before I forget, am I the only one who is having problems with the new blogger forms? I often can't paste into these or use the "home," "end," or arrow keys.

Josh Putnam said...

No, I've had problems, too. I'll see if I can switch it back.

Josh Putnam said...

Comments are fixed. Let me know if you have any other issues.

Robert said...

Not to beat a dead horse, but the John Harwood http://mymanmitch.com/news_article.asp?pressid=1268 indicated last week that Reagan handily beat Carter in 1980 by capturing 55% of the White vote. McCain lost decisively to Obama by capturing 55% of the white vote. I still say that demographics is (are) destiny!