If the economy doesn’t pick up in a couple years, the Republicans may have a shot…although I think it’s unlikely at this point.

Crist, Huckabee and Romeny I can buy. Huck and Rom because they’ve already ran and Crist because he’s from Florida and can provide a pragmatic Republican juxtaposition to Obama.
Palin and Jindal I don’t [...]

If you were a Republican Congressman right now…what would you be thinking? That’s what Silver attempts to deconstruct in a recent post.
And while Nate explains the political thought process in detail, I think one thing’s for certain…Obama better be ready for a fight.
From FiveThirtyEight:

But let’s say that the economy still sucks in 2010 — which, [...]

Along with Michael Steele, Charlie Crist seems to be attempting to move the Republican party into the 21st Century.
Here’s a statement he recently put out about the Chip Saltsman/”Barack The Magic Negro” stupidity…
As the GOP Chairman in one of our nation’s most ethnically and culturally diverse states, I am especially disappointed by the inappropriate words [...]

I think it’s a very smart move (like asking to not be vetted for VP this year), and so does Kevin Drum
I’d say this confirms that Jindal isn’t an idiot. Sure, it’s possible that Barack Obama is going to crash and burn and turn 2012 into a Republican year. But what are the odds? Far [...]

This could be basic “No, no, I wouldn’t dream of it” type of talk, but if he does run for Governor in 2011 then it’ll be hard to fake that.
From Examiner.com:
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says he’s not interested in a 2012 run for president and will seek re-election in 2011.
At a news conference Wednesday with [...]

Thanks to a quirk in New York’s election laws, whoever gets appointed to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat will have to spend their first three years in office campaigning:
Paterson will appoint a Senator in January of 2009 who will hold that position until Jan. 3 of 2011. At that point, the winner of a special election [...]

As if this were any surprise, but does Mitt really want to be known as the perennial presidential candidate? And especially in 2012, when it’s extremely likely that the economy will have picked back up, more jobs will be created and the GOP’s message will still be out of touch.
Wouldn’t he rather let Huckabee and [...]

Looks like he added over $100M to his fundraising total in October alone, and between raising money for the DNC, his transition and the inauguration, Politico speculates that Obama is set to become
Politico runs the numbers…what say you?
The vast majority of the donations were generated during the unusually long primary and general election campaigns. [...]

A Washington Post article marks somewhat of an unofficial launch to the Jindal buzz, although we’ve been talking about this since May on Donklephant.
In any event…the following sounds very familiar…
Jindal insists he is ignoring all the speculation. In Cedar Rapids, at a breakfast event devoted to addressing this beleaguered city’s efforts to rebound from its [...]

Does this guy really want to be the sacrificial lamb in 2012? Because nobody’s going to blame Obama for this economic downturn (except hardcore Friedmanites), and if Obama creates 2.5 million jobs in the next few years, he’s got 2012 in the bag.
In any event, here’s more from CNN:
(CNN) — Bobby Jindal’s in Iowa today. [...]

A new PAC is launching some ads thanking Sarah Palin for running for VP this year, and there’s little doubt that these folks want her to run in 2012.

Part of me wants to think that this stuff is nice, but the marketer/social media strategist in me screams, “Why did they have to form a PAC [...]

If you had any doubts that the internet has created a new public financing system, this story should put those to rest.
From Wash Post:
In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O, Obama’s online operation, broke down the numbers: 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding [...]

Divided government will be restored in 2012, either through the Republicans winning the presidency or (more likely) a majority in the Senate. If the latter, we will be in the interesting situation that we have a divided congress, and regardless of which party wins the presidency - a divided government.

A Hardball panel discusses her future and her recent appears at the Republican Governors Association convention…

As usual, Pat Buchanan loves Palin, but the other Republican on the panel isn’t too keen to give her the same praise.
And frankly, I think many in the GOP are embarrassed by her performance on the trail. Especially guys like [...]

Is he running for 2012 or America’s Sweetheart?
Probably both.
Jonathan Martin lays it out…
Mike Huckabee has a new book coming out, a weekly talk show on Fox and is an in-demand speaker.
But apparently he’s got some spare time.
The former Arkansas governor and once and perhaps future presidential candidate has inked a deal with ABC radio to [...]

One of the first things she does is commend Bush on his decision to go to war in Iraq. Not the smartest move right out of the gate.

She’s talking a good game about being the party of ideas, but does she really think that 2012 is realistic for her? Because what ideas will the GOP [...]

Pure fluff, but hey…it is Palin and she’s auditioning for 2012 at this point.
So, here’s Greta Van Susteren’s interview in five parts.
Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

And scene.

If he’s truly thinking about running in 2012, I think that’s a mistake since he’ll literally be 41 years old at the time. Then again, that’s what they said about Obama a couple years ago, although Obama had more legislative experience when he ran than Jindal will have in 2012.
And actually, both Huckabee and Jindal [...]

Ron Brownstein details just how badly campaign ‘08 hurt her…
In the national Election Day exit poll, fully 60% of voters said they did not consider her qualified to serve as president if necessary, while only 38% thought she would be ready to step in.
Those figures were daunting enough, but new calculations from the exit [...]

A pretty lengthy interview describing the ups and downs of campaign ‘08.

This is the thing…she’s definitely interested in a 2012 run. Because this interview is designed to undo what the McCain’s media strategy did to her.
But will it work?
Not really. Sure, it may save her for her next run as Governor, but hanging out [...]