General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The inevitable Hillary will lead to President Rand Paul. [View all]Wella
(1,827 posts)The Republicans always seem to pick the guy whose "turn" it is. That's why they got Poppy Bush (former candidate in 80; Veep), Bob Dole (not a popular choice), and John McCain (candidate from 2000 who lost the nod to Shrub.) Shrub got nominated because the neocons wanted Cheney to run their PNAC war.
So, whose turn is it this year? Clearly not Rand Paul. If you think about the 2012 field, it's Perry (now tangled up in legal issues), Mitt (again, but they won't let him run again), Ron Paul (who was totally ignored, even though he came in 2nd in Iowa), Newt (who was basically in the race because of one rich nut), Rick Santorum (who is a nut, but did better than expected and might be a potential Veep this time around to throw a bone to the religious right), Herman Cain (if the GOP is desperate for a racial minority), and Jon Huntsman, who was considered a RINO but actually would have been an intelligent choice based on his background. I don't seriously consider Bachmann here, since I don't believe the party ever took her seriously.
So potentials?
Ryan (Veep running mate, 2012), Santorum (maybe as Veep), Perry (if he can get out of legal trouble), Christie (Ann Coulter's choice in 2012 ). An outside choice might be Wisconsin's Koch-sponsored governor, Scott Walker or (if they're courting the Latino/a vote) Susana Martinez of New Mexico. I don't see Tea favorite Ben Carson having a real shot. Ted Cruz has been running his mouth, but his Canadian citizenship (coming after the birther thing) could be a real drawback for the GOP.