Tea Party darling, the 55-year old Michele Bachmann is renowned for her straight talking and often, controversial stances. Her incredible fund raising ability will come in handy now that she has decided to take the plunge for the GOP presidential nomination. She raised an astounding $13 million for her 2010 reelection campaign, no small feat for a House election.
Her candidacy suffered a huge setback earlier this year with her speech in the Iowans For Tax Relief event last January, where her questionable reinterpretation of facts involving slavery, the constitution and our founding fathers drew flak from just about everyone outside the Republican Party. Her subsequent televised response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, in her capacity as the Congressional Tea Party chair, also met with lukewarm reception, with a few senior party figures voicing their displeasure at her apparent attempt to draw attention away from Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who was selected to provide the official party response.
However, true to form, Bachmann responded in style with a rousing speech to 11,000 Republicans attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on February 9. Her ability to rally the grassroots and the conservative base of the party ensures that Bachmann will continue to hold a significant influence in the eventual outcome of the nomination race.
Bachmann shone in the New Hampshire GOP Presidential Debate recently with a polished, confident and articulate display. She appeared to have elevated her usual fiery and aggressive delivery to another level, and under the able hand of veteran Republican strategist, Edward Rollins, the former Reagan National Campaign Director in the 80’s, Bachmann suddenly has established herself with the leading pack of the race. While she still has some way to go before catching up with Romney, Palin and Giuliani (yes, Giuliani), her conservative power base is fully capable of giving the time she needs to get some traction in her campaign.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives was once one of the brightest stars of the Republican Party. Together with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Gingrich masterminded the Contract with America campaign that saw the Republicans wresting control of the House from the Democrats for the first time in 40 years. He became the de facto head of the party and led the Republicans with a no-holds barred and bruising approach against the Clinton-led Democrats that at one stage, even saw the federal government shutting down. However, his abrasive style eventually saw him losing control of the House, and he resigned from his position as Speaker under threat of mutiny.
Yet, those who believe that Gingrich is a spent force and belongs to another era of partisan politics should do some quick rethinking, preferably with a calculator close by. In the one year period between 2009 to 2010, Gingrich raised a total of $32 million for his then undecided campaign; a figure which is more than ALL of his fellow Republican presidential aspirants - combined - managed to amass. The 67-year old may have burnt many bridges in Washington during his time there, but he remains one of the most recognizable Republican figures in the country, and in the absence of a nationally recognized Republican candidate (barring Romney and Palin), this may very well become a deciding factor.
The intellectual Gingrich, who has spent the majority of the past decade writing semi-historical works of fiction, is known as an out-of-the box thinker, and is perfectly capable of standing toe-to-toe with the cerebral President Obama. His grasps on most of the issues affecting the country is second to none, although, there are concerns that his position sometimes appears to shift in concert with prevailing public sentiments. He is also a very formidable opponent in a debate, a fact that many would willingly attest to. The thought of a debate involving Gingrich, fellow Republican Ron Paul and President Obama has left many salivating at the prospects.
However, Gingrich continues to be saddled with baggage involving his private life, and there is a fear that he will once again emerge as a divisive figure within the party and ruin the chances of Mitt Romney, who still remains the party’s most viable candidate to take on Obama.
A former Mormon missionary. Scion of billion dollar chemical empire. Fluent in Mandarin. High school dropout (he obtained his G.E.D a few years later). A personal friend of President Barack Obama. Perceived by some as evasive.
Hardly a convincing choice as the Republican nominee for next year’s presidential election now, is he? But if one were to look deeper, the affable Huntsman may very well turn out to be the savior of the Republicans comes 2012.
The thoughtful, bipartisan thinking and media savvy motorcycle-riding former aide to both former presidents Reagan and Bush (H.W), exudes a breath of fresh air into the sometimes all too predictable Republican nomination process.
Huntsman is a conservative who is respected by the liberals, a blue blood that is at ease with the average Americans, a devout Mormon with rock music sensibilities and a nationalist that still calls Chinese Vice President, Xi Jinping, a friend.
Huntsman is a contradiction, an enigma, a complex personality; and because of his personal fortune, has never been beholden to anyone. His term as the Governor of Utah saw him maintaining a consistently, ridiculously high approval ratings in excess of 70%. In fact, he won reelection for his second term by capturing an incredible 77.7% of the vote – an almost unheard of figure in modern top-tier politics. The respected Pew Center on the States cited Utah as the best managed state in the country during his tenure.
His time in the Republican administration of the 80’s and early 90’s saw him rising from an ordinary aide to the United States Ambassador to Singapore (the youngest ever at 32) within a few short years. Huntsman is a formidable man indeed. But the most frightening thing about the father of seven is, he appears to have no skeletons in his closet; and that just might prove to be the clincher for the Republican voters and delegates in the coming months.
Gary Earl Johnson, the former two-term Governor of New Mexico, announced his entry into the Republican nomination race for the 2012 Presidential Election on April 21, 2011. The 58-year old, a renowned triathlete and construction company owner, has decided to bypass the presidential exploratory phase and is centering his campaign on the promise of ‘fixing’ the ‘mess’ that the government is in.
The Republican, known for his strong Libertarian inclination, is an enigma to the party’s grassroots. The practical and conservative approach he advocates during his days as the Governor of New Mexico contrasts strongly with his more recent comments, which has grown increasingly 'Ron-Paulish' in recent years. However, Johnson remains one of the few gubernatorial qualified success stories in recent years, and therein lies his appeal with the party cadres and grassroots.
His entry into politics was a low-key affair, driven mainly by a core of loyal backers. The then inexperienced Johnson was hardly given a chance in the run up to the New Mexico gubernatorial race in 1994, especially after being rebuffed by the state Republican Party who ‘suggested’ that he should instead seek a seat at the State Legislature first .
However, his doggedness saw him scrapping past his Republican challenger in primary, Richard P. Cheney, by a mere 1%, winning 34% of the ballots. The win was all the more impressive considering his campaign was funded almost entirely from the $500,000 he himself contributed to the campaign. However, with the Republican Party machinery firmly behind him in the actual election, Johnson soundly, although very surprisingly, defeated the incumbent Governor, Democrat Bruce King, by an impressive 50% to 40%. He repeated the feat four years later by triumphing over Democrat Albert Chavez by another comprehensive 55% to 45% margin to win the reelection – a particularly impressive feat in a state with a 40% Latin population.
His time in New Mexico was typified by his aggressive cost cutting measures aimed at eliminating the state’s budget deficit and spending growth. Johnson, armed with the lessons learnt building his construction firm, was known to be a decisive, yet collaborative operator whose is most often remembered as the Governor who never increased taxes during his tenure as Governor of New Mexico.
Ron Paul, an obstetrician born in 1935 and the Republican Congressman from Texas, has run for president in 1988 and again in 2008, first as a Libertarian and then as a Republican. He has the most conservative voting record of any congressional member since 1937.
There is a small but steadfast core of support for Ron Paul; in 2008 his base raised about $6 million in just one day. His main source of support is the TEA party, which shares his views that government should be smaller and less intrusive. He has vowed never to vote for any legislation that is not authorized by the Constitution and his policy on tight border security is one that is quite volatile in the political climate today.
Paul votes against nearly all proposals that involve spending government funds or imposing or extending taxes. He believes that the income tax should be abolished and thinks that the country would benefit from the absence of nearly all government agencies, maintaining that they waste incredible amounts of tax dollars while accomplishing very little.
Ron Paul is a staunch pro-life Constitutionalist that traditionally runs on the platform of small government, granting the individual states more power to govern themselves with the consent of the people.
James Richard Perry is the longest serving Texan Governor in history, having served three elected terms and a single half term in office, after former President George Bush vacated his seat to assume the presidency in 2001.
The former Air Force captain, who once entertained thoughts of becoming a veterinarian, has never hid his preference to remain as Governor of the Lone Star State, claiming it to be "the best job in the world." However, the sparse field of candidates in the Republican nomination race, as well as pressure from the evangelical segment of the grassroots, has forced Perry to reevaluate the matter.
Perry, a dogmatic nationalist and a noted social and fiscal conservative, strategically threw his Stetson into the ring hours before the the Iowa Straw Poll, and with that, turned the focus of the national Press Corps into his direction. He is widely expected to instantly challenge Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann at the top of the leaderboard.
Of course, the question remains whether Perry is capable of reinventing his image to the independents and disgruntled Democrats in time for the election. His hard stance on several explosive issues, such as abortion, firearms, immigration, same-sex marriages and capital punishment, is bound to provoke a reaction outside of the conservative circles. There is also a fear that his perceived similarity with former President Bush would prove to be a millstone around his neck, with anti-Bush sentiments still prevalent among a significant segment of the populace.
Despite this however, Perry’s image of the archetypal Republican conservative may very well turn out to be his strongest selling point yet, especially to the increasingly perturbed heartland Republicans fearing an Obama second term.
Mitt Romney is considered by many in the Republican Party to be the front-runner for the 2012 nomination, although his 2008 presidential campaign collapsed after a second-place finish to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucus, a state in which Romney had been considered strong. The Harvard graduate and longtime venture capitalist is revered for his financial knowledge. Many believe that Romney is the most qualified candidate to tackle the struggling economy and federal budget deficit.
Earlier this year, the former Massachusetts governor released his newest book, 'No Apology: The Case for American Greatness' and went on an 18-state national book tour. The tour included his third trip to Iowa since the 2008 election, as well to New Hampshire and South Carolina, all early battleground states.
The title of the new book refers to what Romney describes as President Obama's pattern of apologizing for American behavior in speeches abroad, such as his conciliatory speech in Cairo over the summer of 2010 to the Muslim world. Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman said, "The book is more than a critique of the Obama presidency. The book itself is primarily forward-looking."
It does in fact seem as though Mitt Romney is forward-looking to the 2012 Republican nomination. Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to President Bush and 2008 Republican nominee John McCain stated, "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."
How does one recover from the biggest defeat (by an 18-point margin) for an incumbent in a Senate election in 30 years? Perhaps more importantly, how does one tackle the problem of having one’s name being associated to lube, fecal matter and anal sex (gay activist, Dan Savage, started a campaign in 2003 to popularize an alternate definition of Santorum, in retaliation to Santorum’s equating the issue of gay marriage to bestiality and pedophilia) which shows up on the top of every search engine query of his name?
The former Senator of Pennsylvania and rising star of the Republican Party certainly has his work cut out for him. Santorum however, has never been one to shy away from a problem or controversy. A passionate and opinionated man, even his critics readily admit that this articulate socio-fiscal conservative believes in his own convictions, and never plays to the gallery.
His stance on national security, economy, social issues and his rhetoric against gay agenda mirrors those of the Republican conservative grassroots, and being the only recognizable practicing Catholic among the front runners for 2012 GOP race presents him with a unique stranglehold on the religious money. His excellent relationship with Evangelical Protestants offers yet another channel of support among the Christian conservative base.
Santorum captivating oratory skills, his regular TV appearances in the FOX network and his impressive network among Washington's lobbyist lends further weight to his credibility as a potential candidate. In a Republican field that is generally considered as less than inspiring, Santorum has the chance to add another alternate definition to his name: The Comeback Kid.