Race for the White House 2012

I do not plan to write too much this weekend. Very focused on football of course, and developments in the marathon 2012 Presidential race continue to be slow. Much attention next week will go to Barack Obama's 2012 State of the Union Show and how it will affect his current modestly improved poll numbers in the wake of his Tuscon speech. The GOP response will be given by the new House Budget Chairman, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. It's been quite a month for Cheesehead Republicans, with Reince Preibus now in place at the RNC, but hopefully, they will be bitterly disappointed by the elimination of the Green Bay Packers.

Today in New Hampshire, a straw poll was held among State Republican Committee Members. The first place finisher was easily Mitt Romney, who had more than three times as much support as the second place finisher, Texas Congressman Ron Paul. So, as a Romney supporter, I guess it's now a two man race for the nomination, right? I will take it! Despite the easy straw poll victory of the more establishment backed candidate, Tea Party activists elected their preferred candidate for State Party Chair in New Hampshire. All this has to indicate that Romney remains a solid favorite in the Granite State, with over a year to go before the voting in the First in the Nation primary.

Almost everyone expects Romney to enter the race. Who else will be joining him on the Republican side? I read a piece today by some national pundit that claims that insider conventional wisdom is that folks like Pawlenty and Santorum are certainly in, with Barbour and Gingrich also likely to run. A Daniels run is considered unlikely, and that both Palin and Huckabee are somewhat also less than likely to get in when all is said and done. The fact that Mike Huckabee's former campaign manager has just taken a new job on Capitol Hill and that the former Governor of Arkansas and current Fox News host himself has committed to going on an Alaskan cruise in June have to be strong indications that a second Huckabee campaign is far from imminent.

In the meantime, the Presidency of Barack Obama is now officially more than halfway over.