“Dark Horses”, candidates who are not thought of seriously and come from behind to win or be major factors in a political race, are a part of America’s political culture!
We have had several “dark horse” Presidential nominees of a major party, and four have become President, all Democrats–James K. Polk in 1844, Franklin Pierce in 1852, Woodrow Wilson in 1912, and Jimmy Carter in 1976!
Wendell Willkie, the 1940 GOP nominee for President, was also a “dark horse”, but lost the race to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
However, we had “dark horses” who excited the races in both parties in the past two presidential election cycles before flopping–Howard Dean in 2004 for the Democrats, and Mike Huckabee in 2008 for the Republicans!
So therefore, there are a few potential candidates for “dark horse” for the GOP for 2012! The candidates being talked about are primarily Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Haley Barbour.
But the names to watch for 2012 might include:
Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana, who has charisma, good looks, strong conservative and Tea Party credentials, and has had a leadership position in the House as Conference Chairman of the GOP.
Senator elect Marco Rubio of Florida, who is often called the Cuban Barack Obama in reverse, and is young, charismatic, good looking, has fervent support from conservatives and Tea Party people, and represents the largest state in population of any GOP potential candidate who is seen as a possible nominee.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who is charismatic, handsome, strong conservative, seen as best bet for any Senator seen as a possibility in a primarily competition among Governors and former Governors.
Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who is handsome, charismatic, and started the victory wave against the Democrats when he won the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, but will have trouble being elected for a full term in Democratic dominated Massachusetts, so might run for President instead, although probably too moderate for the Republican base.
Could any of these four seriously become the Presidential nominee? Well, we have only had one Congressman go directly to the White House (James Garfield), and he was assassinated after only a few months in the Presidency! Both Rubio and Brown will have had very brief experience on the national level by 2012, similar however to Barack Obama!
Thune will have had eight years in the Senate, along with six previous years in the House of Representatives, so will be, by far, the most experienced nationally of any of these “dark horse” possibilities by 2012!
If one had to prognosticate who among these might have the best chance to emerge, were they to run, the best bet is that it would be John Thune, so it will be interesting to watch and see what happens to this group of potential candidates! Stay tuned! 🙂