The straw polls, the chattering of the pundits, and speculation in Freeperland is way off the mark.

The GOP Presidential candidate will not be anyone who has run and failed. Not going to happen.

The most likely choice is one of the sitting governors. The other possibility is someone coming out of the military.

All of the present candidates have way too high negatives and would never survive a serious primary challenge and this was proven by the fact that McCain, a very poor candidate, beat them like a junkyard dog.

Moreover both parties do not like candidates who have tried once and lost.

The leaders of the party are letting this puppet show continue for now but there is no chance that any of these losers are going to run against President Obama as the Republican nominee.

Given the fact that the successful nominee will probably win the nomination by taking Iowa by storm and finish the fight with a win in NH the likely candidates are:



Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana

He is widely cited as a rising star within the Republican party and has approval ratings hovering near 70%.<2><3><4>


Although Daniels had claimed to be reluctant to seek higher office,<25> many media outlets, including Politico, Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Indianapolis Star had speculated that Daniels may be in position to seek to Republican nomination for President in 2012 after he joined the national debate on cap and trade legislation by penning a response in the Wall Street Journal to policies espoused by the Democratic-majority Congress and the White House.<26> The speculators have cited Daniels' record of reforming government, reducing taxes, balancing the budget, and connecting with voters in Indiana.<27><28><29><30> In response to their speculation Daniels dismissed a presidential run in June 2009, saying "I've only ever run for or held one office. It's the last one I'm going to hold."<31> However, in February 2010 he told a Washington Post reporter that he was open to the idea of running in 2012.<32>





Mike Rounds Governor of South Dakota


Rounds was reelected on November 7, 2006. The results were as follows:

Republicans: Mike Rounds and Dennis Daugaard– 61.7%
Democrats: Jack Billion and Eric Abrahamson– 36.1%
Constitution: Steven J. Willis and Larry Johnsen– 1.2%


The one that would have been the most serious challenger, Governor Huntsman of Utah who is now the Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.