Republicans Lose Another Candidate Choice

It's still early, but the Republican effort to find a candidate to oppose President Obama next year has already been very interesting. It started with a whole host of hopefuls (although none of them seem to excite Republicans very much). And for a while it looked like it was going to be a real donnybrook between Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Haley Barbour, Mike Pence, Michele Bachmann, and Donald Trump. But that was before they started dropping out.

First to go was Haley Barbour. He was an excellent money-raiser, but couldn't seem to get any real support. Finally he admitted the obvious and dropped out. Then it was Mike Huckabee. He had a real shot at the Republican nomination but probably not much chance of beating the president. And it would have cost him a nice-paying job at Fox News. He decided to take the money and run.

Finally it was Donald Trump. He had shot to the top of the polls on his "birtherism", but after the president released his "long form" birth certificate his popularity dropped precipitously.  Although he wouldn't admit it, he knew he would just be spending a lot of money in a lost cause (and his greed just wouldn't let him do that).

That left three semi-moderates and a lot of far-right fringe candidates. Of the more moderate candidates, Romney has serious baggage -- his mormonism and the health care plan he passed as governor which looks a whole lot like the one Obama passed. He's going to have trouble getting right-wing votes, especially in the South and Midwest. And Pawlenty hasn't been able to get any traction at all (which means he probably can't attract enough money to make a real run at the nomination). Huntsman has no chance at all since he would never be acceptable to the teabaggers.

That leaves the far-right fringe candidates, and that scares the hell out of the establishment Republicans. Not only would these candidates have almost no chance of beating the president, but they could have a deleterious effect on down-ballot candidates (resulting in a 2008-like rout of Republicans in the general election). That sent them in search of another candidate -- someone they could run as a right-winger in the primaries and a moderate in the general election.

The person they came up with was Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (pictured). The establishment put on the pressure and did their best to talk him into running. They even had Laura Bush call and talk to his wife. But it was a futile effort. On Saturday the governor told the Indiana Star that he would not be a candidate for the nomination.

He said, "I will not be a candidate. What could have been a complicated decision was in the end very simple: on matters affecting us all, our family constitution gives a veto to the women's caucus, and there is no override provision. Simply put, I find myself caught between two duties. I love my country; I love my family more."

Daniels refusal to run makes it more likely that a far-right fringe candidate like Palin or Bachmann or Paul could emerge as the Republican nominee. Romney could still pull out the nomination, but only if the teabaggers agree (and that is unlikely). There is time for someone new to enter the race, but time is running out since fund-raising and setting up campaign organizations must happen pretty quickly.

Some (like Rush Limbaugh) have been trying to get Texas governor Rick Perry to run, but that wouldn't solve the Republican's problem. He would just be another far-right fringe candidate (and is already a national joke for suggesting that Texas secede from the United States). And his Texas "miracle" has been exposed as a sham.

It's been fun for us liberals watching all of this unfold, and should be interesting in the future. I had not thought the Republicans would actually nominate a teabagger to be president but it is starting to look like that's a real possibility. I hope so. That would be the best gift Democrats could receive.