Sarah Palin gained international recognition upon her selection
by John McCain as the 2008
Republican vice presidential nominee. In the past year Palin has
become immensely popular among a
large portion of the GOP base. Her new book, 'Going Rogue: An
American Life', sold more than 1
million copies in the first two weeks and has topped the New York
Times best-seller list since late November 2009.
In February 2010, Palin said she would run in 2012 "if I believed
that that is the right thing to
do for our country and for the Palin family." Palin has also
gone on the attack saying that
potential 2012 contender Mike Huckabee made a "horrible decision"
nine years ago when granting
clemency to the man suspected in the killing of four police
officers in Washington State on November 29th, 2009. She is also
weighing in on nearly all Obama initiatives and voicing her
opposition at every opportunity.
While Palin possesses huge star power among Republican
conservatives, a recent ABC News/Washington
Post poll shows that six in 10 Americans view her as unqualified
for the job of President in 2012.
This is a sharp drop from Palin?s 6 in 10 approval rate peak in
November 2008 but has remained
basically unchanged in the past year. Additionally, her July
4th, 2009 'resignation without
explanation' as governor of Alaska before completing her first
term and her stumbles on policy matters, especially foreign
relations, have led to numerous attacks.
Nonetheless, Sarah Palin is a force that the Republican Party
must reckon with. She has
effectively used social media and has tapped into the Republican
base. Unlike her male
counterparts, she faces stereotypical assumptions that she's not
tough enough and dismissive
attitudes about her qualifications and intellect. She is however
going to be the rallying point for conservative Republicans in
the 2012 elections.
Following the major roles of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton in
the 2008 race, the election of our
first female president does not seem too far off.
Willard Mitt Romney is a man who has it all. A vast personal
fortune, a successful private career, a perfect family life, a
sharp mind, a charismatic personality, and he is very easy on the
eyes (heck, even his name has a touch of stardust about it). So
why does 64-year old Romney continue to struggle to capture the
hearts and minds of the Republican heartland?
His poll numbers have consistently hovered in the 23-25% region,
and despite the short term hiccups caused by the mini-surges of
Bachmann, Perry and now Cain, his support base seems to have held
pretty solid over the past two years. His critics charged that
his greatest strength, the ability to build a consensus from
diverging factions, is also his biggest weakness. He appears to
be intent on pleasing everyone, which lends an appearance of him
being a flip-flop on his stances. This characteristic was used in
devastating fashion in 2007/08 by Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson
and John McCain to derail his campaign.
Perhaps a better way to look at the quarter billion dollar man is
through his own eyes, that of a financial investor. Mitt hedges
his position across a broad portfolio, which, while preventing
the chance of a mega payday, also drastically reduces the chances
of a catastrophic loss. In other words, he doesn’t believe in
putting all of his eggs in a single basket. Instead, the
grandfather of fourteen is intent on keeping hypothetical baskets
of varying sizes to hypothetically fit as wide a spectrum as
possible of the hypothetical egg demographics.
Cognizant of this perceived vulnerability, Mitt has adopted a
very organized and low-keyed strategy for this nomination cycle.
He has chosen to skip all the straw polls and remain in the
shadows of his rivals, and only making controlled media
appearances. Mitt remembers very clearly how brightly his star
shone in the 2008 race, and how quickly it faded as well. He has
revealed his hand only several times the past year, and Rick
Perry unfortunately, appears to bear the majority of those
excursions.
Former advisor to President George W. Bush, and 2008 Republican
nominee John McCain, Mark McKinnon, concurs, stating,
"Romney
is playing things very methodically and deliberatively. I think
he understands the physics of this game very well now and is
carefully calibrating his approach to 2012."
