SENATOR JOHN THUNE JOINS NRA SPEAKERS
On May 17th, Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakotka addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in North Carolina. Thune joined other GOP hopefuls like Sarah Palin, Congressman Mike Pence and Haley Barbour in speaking to the crowd of gun rights activists.
Thune’s speech focused on what he described as two competing visions about the future of our country.
“One consists of more government and less freedom, and one consists of less government and more freedom,” he said. “And right now, unfortunately, the prevailing vision in Washington D.C. is that of government. More and more government.”
Thune served three terms in the U.S. House from 1996-2002, when he narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Tim Johnson by only 524 votes. Many blamed Libertarian Kurt Evans, who drew a little over 3,000 votes in that race.
It all worked out in the end for Thune. In 2004 he challenged and narrowly defeated former Majority Leader Tom Daschle by 51-49%, earning him a national reputation as a “giant killer” in that race.
In 2008, Thune was rumored to be on the short-list for Vice-President and since then he’s been consistently mentioned as a potential candidate for President.
ROMNEY HOLDS HUGE LEAD IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the most recent Granite State Poll, 41% of likely Republican Primary voters said they would vote for Romney, 12% favor 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, 11% would vote for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 9% support former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 6% support Texas Congressman and 2008 candidate Ron Paul, 5% prefer former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, 3% favor Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, and 2% favor former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
I’m usually not sure how much value a poll conducted more than 18 months out really has, because it’s going to be a measure of name recognition. However in this case, I do think we ought to take note of the big gap between first and second place. Sarah Palin trails Mitt Romney by a very significant 29%, and both are universally known figures.
Support for Republican candidates is currently based almost exclusively on their name recognition and favorability ratings. Mitt Romney consistently has had the highest favorability ratings among all likely Republican candidates. Currently, 72% of likely Republican primary voters say they have a favorable opinion of Romney, 18% have an unfavorable opinion of him, 6% are neutral, and 4% don’t know enough about him to say. Romney’s net favorability rating, the percentage who have a favorable opinion of him minus the percentage who have an unfavorable opinion, is a very high +54%. Rudy Giuliani is the second most popular Republican candidate with a net favorability rating of +44%, followed by Mike Huckabee (+27%), Tim Pawlenty (+24%),Newt Gingrich (+22%), Rick Santorum (+19%), Sarah Palin (+16%), former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (+7%), South Dakota Senator John Thune (+5%), and Ron Paul (-3%).
Among the rest of the field, I’m a little surprised that Rudy Giuliani is holding up as well as he is. Most don’t expect him to mount another Presidential campaign and in 2008 he finished fourth in the state with 8.5% of the vote, narrowly beating out Congressman Ron Paul.
Also, who is pushing Rick Santorum to run for President? I’m not sure how many Senators defeated for re-election have gone on to make Presidential bids, but I’m fairly sure it hasn’t worked in modern times. Just ask Mike Gravel.
GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS
Earlier this month the Christian Science monitor continued to fan the flames for a Petraeus presidential bid, reporting on his acceptance of an award at a dinner put on by the American Enterprise Institute.
General Petraeus did little to squelch that speculation Thursday night when he spoke at the annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of Washington’s premier conservative think tanks.
With former Vice President Dick Cheney and members of the Bush-era glitterati known as the neo-cons looking on, Petraeus accepted AEI’s annual Irving Kristol Award, named after the giant of neo-conservatism – a conservative ideology with roots in American liberal thinking that eschews realist foreign policy in favor of an activist and interventionist approach to the world. The highest goal of neo-conservatism is the spread of “American values” including freedom and democracy.
The late Mr. Kristol’s son, Bill Kristol, noted in a tribute to the award’s three decades of honorees that none has ever gone on to become president. He then added to applause and laughter, “Perhaps this curious and glaring omission will be rectified.”
WHO IS JON GREENSPON?
Well, he’s a Marine veteran, a former truck driver, and a Republican candidate for President of the United States.
Among his many campaign pledges, Greenspon says he won’t appoint any cabinet officers who are current elected officials, and that he will focus his attention on upholding the Constitution at all costs. Most of his positions are pretty mainstream, as a matter of fact.
On national security: “While we should always view military action as a last resort in the course of peace, we must remain resolved to resist any actions against our sovereignty. Negotiation with radical forces or foreign powers should never be conciliation.”
On state’s rights: “When it comes to the relationship of our states to the Federal Government, it should be remembered that this Republic was founded on equality – equality of the states with the Government, not as meaningless servants of the Federal Government.”
On the economy: “We need to get Americans back to work, and one of the most effective ways to accomplish this to reform our complex tax structure. Across the board tax reform, not adjusting some set of tax rules, will provide more income for the average American to take home, but also allow for businesses to expand – greating new opportunities.”
Mr. Greenspon’s twitter account has managed to attract a little under 300 followers. It will be interesting to see if he’s serious about this campaign and actually manages to get himself on the ballot in some of the GOP primaries.
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Each Week “The Back of the Pack” covers some of the 2012 Presidential candidates who aren’t drawing the top headlines but could have a big influence on our national conversation.
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