Wow Are They Done Already?
That was fast. And I’m not sure anyone got in a leisurely cigarette afterwards. Politico (yes, yes, I KNOW) is reporting on the current positioning of the GOP field for 2016. You read that right, 2016.
Apparently this event by conservatives in Iowa this weekend is the tell:
On Saturday, a trio of once — and possibly future — presidential candidates will speak to a conservative forum in Iowa hosted by the group Citizens United and a prominent Iowa social conservative organization, the Family Leader. Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Texas Gov. Rick Perry will all appear at the event.
Then there’s this:
Last weekend, Sarah Palin made a surprise appearance at an annual dinner hosted by Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, a major bankroller of Republican causes in the state and nationally. In May, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul spoke to the Iowa branch of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Virginia attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, a favorite of national conservative activists, addressed the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner the same month.
And the choice bit of Ed Rollins telling Politico that GOP folks don’t think Rmoney has a very good shot, since he hasn’t run a good campaign. Like the campaign Ed Rollins ran for Michelle Bachmann. There’s more of the GOP positioning reported there, but there is one name that is not accounted for and that is Jon Huntsman. Meaning that the GOP currently intends to stand behind its thoroughgoing crazy wing for awhile.
Oh yeah… they are done.
I think they’ve finally decided that fighting Obama for four more years is preferable to defending Romney for four years.
Actually, some months ago Steve Benen — can’t dig up the exact cite now — mentioned that several Republicans were already talking about a ’96 Strategy’ — punting the Presidency and concentrating on holding Congress. The succession of ‘surrpogates’ who have dissed Romney has shown that they really don’t care if he loses.
This is why, in the few cases I’ve been able to write — personal problems — I’ve been begging us to concentrate on the Congress — particulary the Senate where we have a whole class of great candidates (Berkeley, Baldwin, Warren, Heitkamp, and especially Carmona), and leave making a monkey of Romney to Team Obama, who have that part of the election well in hand.
Of course, the Convention should be as much a boost for Democrats as it will be for popcorn sales. You have Bob “Ultrasound” McDonnell as the chair of the committee, a ton of Paulistas looking to cause their own mischief, and the whole social conservative wing — not lovers of Ryan — looking for their own rewards. They might even reject Ryan and force Romney to take someone else like a Santorum. (They can, there’s no rule they have to take the Presidential candidate’s nomination and they aren’t pledged on that at all.)
Ryan certainly helps put a better focus on the House and Senate races, I think. And I am waiting for Team Obama to start rolling out the Do Nothing Republicans part of his campaign too.