Huntsman-Bachmann in 2012? Pass

May 27, 2011

Ed Rogers has an op-ed up at the Washington Post where he lays the framework for a hypothetical 2012 “fantasy” ticket featuring Former Ambassador to China John Huntsman and Tea Party Darling Representative Michele Bachmann.

Huntsman/Bachmann 2012?

Hmmm? I’ll spare you my thoughts on the idea; at least until you’ve had an opportunity to have a look at what he’s proposing. Catch me below the scroll…

Huntsman and Bachmann should have a meeting of the minds and offer themselves as a Huntsman-led ticket before the Iowa caucuses next year.

Think about it. Unless there is a new dynamic to the 2012 campaign, Huntsman probably can’t win the nomination and Bachmann probably shouldn’t.

But beating Obama will require a fresh approach. He will not be weakened by a primary challenge, and as yet there does not appear to be a left-wing third-party candidate who could erode his support in the general election.

Republicans need to do something radical. If we go through the drudgery of the primaries with a weak field, produce a weak nominee, and face an impoverished spring and early summer of 2012, followed by a tiresome, cliched August convention, we will give Obama a huge advantage.

On the other hand, if our ticket were intact and the party were unified early, such as by next spring, fundraising would be much easier and our team would be tested and seasoned well ahead of the fall campaign. We can’t just count on a bad economy to defeat Obama for us. If the routine process is left intact, I am sure we will produce a nominee who will have some good moments in the fall going head to head with Obama. But we must assume that the president will still have a lot of personal goodwill, that he will still give good speeches and that the Democrats will have an advantage in money and organization.

Let’s try something different. Take the best team the party can offer and get it started early. Let’s give ourselves a chance. We can’t compete with the Obama team on its terms or on its preferred calendar.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE…

Look, I’m all for “fresh approaches.” I think it’s going to take something monumental; something game-changing; for any Republican ticket to keep up with Team Obama in the department of new and creative. That said, I’d prefer “new and creative” to come in the form of fresh marketing strategies or a revamped public relations campaign – not in terms of the people we put on the ticket. I had just about all the new and creative “ticket strategies” my conservative stomach could take back there in 2008. Huntsman at the top of a Republican ticket just feels like far too big a compromise. We tried the playing to the middle thing with McCain, and we all now how that worked out for us.

In fairness to Rogers, and I suppose to Huntsman, his candidacy is still in its infant stages. I can admit that I’m still doing my homework on the Former Ambassador. He may prove to be a reasonably conservative candidate, but it’s not looking that way with first impressions; and we all know they are the most enduring.

But Rogers is “right.” Elections are won in the middle. Both parties appeal to their base in the primaries, and then make their way back to the center as the general roles around. And sure, President Obama has the luxury of staying close to the center without a primary challenger; but he’s still going to be left facing the reality of an administration that most certainly governed from the far Left. While “Campaign Obama” is an entirely different beast that President Obama, I refuse to concede that the American People are so gullible that they won’t be able to distinguish between the two.

And at the end of the day, “independents”, “centrists”, “moderates” have to choose between the lesser “evils” of the Left and the Right. Why not give them a Right that represents the legitimate Right and not some watered down version that promises very little and produces even less?

It seems to me that this election will turn on the answers to two questions…

Can we nominate a truly conservative candidate that can defeat Barack Obama without having to move so far to the center that he/she loses the conservative base and stymies the momentum of the Tea Party movement?
If not, do we still nominate a truly conservative candidate that will motivate, inspire, and bring out the base to increase the likelihood of taking the Senate and retaining control of the House?

The ticket proposed by Mr. Rogers assumes that the answer to both is an emphatic “no.”

I’m just not ready to go there yet. If there was no chance of taking the Senate and retaining the House, I may be inclined to take the position that winning the Presidency is an “at any cost” proposition; but that is simply not the case. I believe in Separation of Powers and I am supremely confident that a Republican-controlled Legislature will be a sufficient “check” on anything a second term Barack Obama may want or desire to do. Because of that, I am willing to lose this Presidential election if it means returning the Republican Party to a place where it can justifiably call itself an institution of principles; if it means not abandoning those truths we purport to stand for, just to win an election.

I do think it is also worth mentioning…

Regarding that ticket proposed by Mr. Rogers; I think Michele Bachmann would probably rather cut off her right arm than join a ticket with John Huntsman – let alone one that would put her in the VP slot. She’s spent two years rally the Tea Party faithful against candidates like Huntsman. I don’t buy for a second that she would be willing to shift gears and throw that thing in reverse just to get a whiff of the White House. No way; no how. Never.

In sum… I don’t fault Mr. Rogers for proposing this hypothetical ticket. Frankly, I’m glad someone’s trying to figure out a path to victory here. The prevailing theme, and the underlying mood, circulating among most Republican pundits is beginning to wreak with the stench of defeatism. We may not be in love with our current field of candidates; but if one needs a hearty dose of optimism, he need only look to the President we’re trying to oust. Candidate Obama brought hope. President Obama will inspire change – and not the kind he was hoping for…

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