Who do you think will end up getting nominated for the Republican ticket?

I'm thinking Mitt Romney is going to the last man standing. I think he is raising funds very quickly and most Republicans have heard of him, and there's a lot of power in familiarity.

I don't think Palin will run, and Huckabee and Trump have already said "no" to a presidential bid.

Who do you think will end up running against President Obama?

Edited to add: I'm sorry if this was a dumb post/question, I just really am wondering at this point. And it matters to me because the more time we have to know who it will be, the more time we D's will have to do research on the candidate and develop a strategy to win against that candidate. I'm actually kind of worried about someone coming out of the blue like Palin did and being popular for a month and getting elected and then...I think our nation would never recover.

an interesting political season. I think it's unusual that there isn't already a very clear, and strongly supported, front runner in this race for the R nomination.

I wonder if it is because of what the pundits have described as Republicans eating their own.

The purity test is so strict at this point, Reagan would never have been elected.

The bullshit they are pulling with the budget and their sheep-like obedience to the teabaggers are going to kill them in 2012.

talk of secession is unpatriotic.

I'd bet Mitt, because when the music stops he'll be the only one without a seat.

All the other fruitcakes will have fallen by the wayside.

all bad candidates who won because people heard of them.

I am just not familiar with all of them, so I couldn't make a good guess as to who their Candidate will be. I am pretty sure of one thing though, its not anyone who is in the race right now.

There is something else I think about the next Republican Candidate. He, and it will certainly be a He, He only needs to get a few more votes than John McCain did last time to beat President Obama next time.

publicity-wise, anyway ... not a bottom feeder like Palin or Trump, and not shouting from the rooftops like Newt ...


:shrug:

I would have guessed Trump had a chance before he went off the deep-end with the birther nonsense. Gingrich is poisonous. Romney is problematic because he supported the Massachusetts version of HCR.

Which means the 'Pugs will lose the Tea Party vote.

Neither candidate can win, and thus the election will be Obama's to lose. The only reason Obama loses will be because he pisses off the left so much that they stay home in droves.

they will all hold their noses and vote in lock-step for the right-wing candidate.

This is the way the Republicans operate. Romney will be the candidate and he will cause Obama problems in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Obama squeaks by but it will be closer than 2008.

Normally Republicans do nominate their senior candidate. The only times they didn't in the last 50 years were in 1964 and 2000. But Romney is seen as two faced by professionals and a closet liberal by activists. (But don't believe any of the anti-Mormon crap you read on DU--only idiots think that will matter). If he gets nominated by the sheer sexiness of his smile slapped on top of a tv campaign, he won't be able to staff up a decent campaign team in the summer and fall of 2012. It'll be a bigger train wreck than McCain's campaign.

The former head of the RNC.

What about this Huntsman guy? he appears to be a moderate repug.

Huckabee as veep candidate.

:shrug: Republicans will vote for them in a heartbeat.

our President is the worst thing to ever happen to America. They genuinely believe that. A lot of it is that they are getting their information only from FOX news and some other sources like that. Another part of it is just that they are fiercely loyal to their team. I mean even if Gingrich cheated on his sick wife and served her divorce papers when she was dying of cancer in the hospital, they will still vote for him. Because at least he isn't President Obama. And they will find a way to explain away Gingrich's behavior.

He'll get beaten every bit as badly as Dole (the "we have nobody, so here's a sacrificial lamb" candidate of THAT time) did in '96.

If the Republican Party were smart, they'd spend this time grooming the "new face" of their Party to get ready for 2016. The guy or gal who will move the Party AWAY from the wackos and nut-jobs that scare the pants off of the 60% of America that resides in the middle of the political spectrum, and more toward a candidate they can identify with. However, since they've spent the last 10 years doing nothing but kow-towing to the maniac fringe 10% on the far right, they don't have anyone like that right now. So, as I said, if they were smart, they would offer up some sacrificial lamb in 2012, and use the extra time getting SOMEBODY ready to make a SERIOUS run in 2016. Then again, if grandma had balls, she'd be grandpa, so I don't expect to see anything other than the same tired, old, retreads spouting the same tired, old rhetoric. And if they don't find someone to take them in a new direction, I expect that they'll get a whoopin' in 2016 as well (and I'm hoping it's at the hands of MY Senator and my current favorite politician on the Hill, Sherrod Brown).

Right now of a field of very weak "contenders", Mittens has the best organization and money and those are the elements that win primaries and elections. But his support is an inch thick. Thus the scramble is on. Rachel and Larry did excelent reports last night on the scisms within the GOTB and the major flaws in each of the percieved candidates. In specific the split between the teabaggers and the party elite. There are few candidates that breach that scism and I think its inevitable that you'll either see some type of third party candidate (Ron or Rand Paul fit that bill) vs whomever the elite can sucker convince to run. Right now you're hearing about Daniels (a former booooosh insider) but he'd make Michael Dukakis look animated.

The scary thing is I see the chance for a Grifterella to jump in...but I use the term scary as in watching a good horror movie. With Trump and Hucklenutz dropping out, there's a lot of opportunities to scoop up enough of the great unhinged support to turn next year's convention into a real circus. She could be their "Hillary '08" with just enough primary votes to prevent any front runner from a clear path to the nomination. Now who is that other candidate? As said earlier, it looks like Mittens but I'm sure in those beltway boardrooms at American Crossroads there's someone being "groomed" to hop in at or near the last minute. They won't need to raise funds and will have the Rove machine ready to do its thing. But will the ccurrent rushpublican electorate buy it? Stay tuned...

Someone near the end of his career who doesn't mind getting clobbered in the general. McCain came limping out of the field in 2008 (Remember how he got in, got out, and got back in? It was the Hokey Pokey Presidential Candidacy) to play the "happy" warrior. Dole was pushed forward in 1996 to grump and sneer his way through an interminable four months of the general campaign. GOP prospects for 2012 are near zero, but they feel like they have to run somebody without hurting every other race across the country. Mitch Daniels strikes me as a likely seat-warmer.