The Most Promising Republican Governors

Well, here at BCR we really don’t care what the ‘country club’ Republicans think, but just to illustrate just how broad the gap between us is, I thought I would post who they think has the brightest future in the GOP.

Q: Who among your party’s current crop of governors has the brightest political future?

Republicans (99 votes)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal 21 percent
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour 20 percent
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty 17 percent
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist 13 percent
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford 8 percent
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. 6 percent

Also receiving votes: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 5 percent each; no one, 2 percent; California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and “Pawlenty and Sanford,” 1 percent each.

First, lets look at who these ‘country club’ folks are…

GOP Political InsidersDan Allen, Stan Anderson, Gary Andres, Saulius (Saul) Anuzis, Rich Ashooh, Whit Ayres, Brett Bader, Mitch Bainwol, Gary Bauer, David Beckwith, Clark Benson, Wayne Berman, Brian Bieron, Charlie Black, Kirk Blalock, Carmine Boal, Jeff Boeyink, Ron Bonjean, Jeff Buley, Luke Byars, Nick Calio, Danny Carroll, Ron Christie, Jim Cicconi, Cesar Conda, Jake Corman, Scott Cottington, Charlie Crist, Greg Crist, Diane Crookham-Johnson, Fergus Cullen, Mike Dennehy, Ken Duberstein, Steve Duprey, Debi Durham, Frank Fahrenkopf, John Feehery, Don Fierce, Carl Forti, Alex Gage, Sam Geduldig, Adam Geller, Benjamin Ginsberg, Bill Greener, Jonathan Grella, Lanny Griffith, Janet Mullins Grissom, Doug Gross, Todd Harris, Steve Hart, Christopher Healy, Ralph Hellmann, Chris Henick, Terry Holt, David Iannelli, Clark Judge, David Keating, David Kensinger, Bruce Keough, Bob Kjellander, Ed Kutler, Chris Lacivita, Jim Lake, George LeMieux, Steve Lombardo, Kevin Madden, Joel Maiola, Gary Maloney, David Marin, Mary Matalin, Dan Mattoon, Brian McCormack, Mark McKinnon, Kyle McSlarrow, Ken Mehlman, Jim Merrill, Tim Morrison, Mike Murphy, Phil Musser, Ron Nehring, Terry Nelson, Neil Newhouse, David Norcross, Ziad Ojakli, Jack Oliver, Todd Olsen, Van B. Poole, Tom Rath, Scott Reed, David Rehr, Steve Roberts, Jason Roe, David Roederer, Dan Schnur, Russ Schriefer, Rich Schwarm, Brent Seaborn, Rick Shelby, Andrew Shore, Kevin Shuvalov, Don Sipple, Robin Smith, Javier Soto, Fred Steeper, Bob Stevenson, Eric Tanenblatt, Richard Temple, Heath Thompson, Jay Timmons, Warren Tompkins, Ted Van Der Meid, Dirk van Dongen, Jan van Lohuizen, Stewart Verdery, Dick Wadhams, John Weaver, Tom Wilson, Dave Winston, Ginny Wolfe, and Fred Wszolek.

These are the folks who know and gave us John McCain 2008. I am not going to pass judgement on the folks in the ranking. I am sure they are all fine people with bright futures. I especially like Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, but face it, he is about as ‘insider’ as you get. What does strike me is how the hottest commodity the Republican Party has going these days is ranked in a tie for 7th place!

Fox News just completed a similar poll.

I’m going to read a list of potential candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination. Please tell me which one you would like to see as the Republican presidential nominee.

                               Total Rep Ind
1. Rudy Giuliani 16% 12% 19%
2. Mike Huckabee 15 20 16
3. Mitt Romney 14 18 12
4. Sarah Palin 9 13 10
5. Newt Gingrich 7 14 5
6. Jeb Bush 3 3 2
7. Mark Sanford 3 4 2
8. Bobby Jindal 2 3 2
9. (Someone else) 10 3 9
10. (Too soon to say) 9 7 14
11. (Don’t know) 11 4 9

What is notable about this poll is that NONE of the ‘insider’ picks ranked above 7th! Sarah Palin came in 4th overall, Now those of us who track this stuff are seeing something the polls are missing completely. When it comes to grassroots activists (like the BCR crowd), Palin is growing in numbers day-by-day. These polls at this point mean nothing at this point except how divided the Republican Party is.

The top five in the FOX poll have one thing in common, they all have reputations for fiscal conservatism. I know the ultimate outcome of the current spend crazy policies in Washington and things should be quite ready for that kind of leader by 2012. It will be a defining year for not only the Republican Party, but also for the nation. We cannot allow the ‘country clubbers’ define us like they did last time with McCain.

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