Ed Morrissey has the details. On Gov. Rick Snyder’s actual prospects I’m… shrugging. He’s a successful two-term governor in a swing state who has a solid conservative win (right-to-work) under his belt. But we’ve got a lot of those right now, if you know what I mean?
And that’s the real story, isn’t it? In 2012 that description would have – did – propel a candidate instantly to the top of the list. In 2016 it’s – well, Snyder’s record is something to be proud of, but it’s nothing too special. I really, really enjoy having a candidate pool this deep. It gives us a margin for error.
Moe Lane
PS: Kind of significant that there’s no shortage of successful Republican politicians deciding that the political situation is worth a little speculative activity. We had a certain lack of that in 2012, alas.
He might well be thinking that if he’s going to run for President at all, now is his only reasonable shot. I mean, if he believes, like you do, that the GOP candidate is likely to win, then barring extremely unlikely events he couldn’t make a plausible run again until 2024 and he’d be 65 then. Which, Reagan, Bush the elder, and a lot of guys who didn’t win (and Hilary) notwithstanding, is pretty old for a first-term president.
It occurs to me that this kind of thinking could result in a pretty crowded GOP field…
You want to know what I think happen in 2012? From start to finish, I knew that Obama was going to win reelection. I can look back on that year and admit that now. I can only assume that I wasn’t the only one. Huckabee is no fool, he sat out 2012 for a reason.
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However since we weck them in 2010 and 2014, all they have to offer is Clinton and we are flushed with fresh, successful, and (mostly) young people. The cream, as people are fond of saying, will raise to the top.
As long as the conservative primary vote doesn’t get chopped up between too many candidates that a more moderate candidate winds up with the nomination, hey more’s the merrier.
Rick Snyder is floating a trial balloon to moderates, in case Jeb Bush continues to sputter.
He also would benefit from a Walker implosion ( though I think Jindal would benefit from that the most)
But seriously, Snyder only got 50% of the vote ( after getting 58% in 2010) despite the Left spending more money against Walker.
Had the Labor movement focused all of their efforts on Snyder, he’d be out of office.
He also probably wouldn’t be able to carry either Michigan or Wisconsin on the national level.
He’s better then Kasich though, both as an effective Governor, and his electability.
This makes me happy. No, seriously. Snyder isn’t all that, neither is Kasich, neither frankly is Christie.
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No, what makes me happy is .. the last time the “establishment” candidate was sputtering this badly and was attracting competition was .. 1980?
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Mew
Heh, yeah, the GOPe really bet on the wrong horse as of right now.
And yeah, 2016 is shaping up the way 2012 should’ve been.
So many good governors either dropped out early and sputtered, or didn’t run at all ( Pawlenty, Daniels, Barbour, etc.)
Or jumped in late and had back surgery (Perry)
Still the field could be better, namely the only female candidate to declare is the non-serious Fiorina, instead of sitting Govs like Fallin, Martinez, or Haley.
And Lindsey Graham apparently thinks being from SC alone guarantees his ability to compete.
Heh. Between Harpootlian and Graham-nasty, I can’t say I blame Gov. Haley for not “going national”.
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I would enjoy watching her tear them up – again – but it wouldn’t make for a good primary.
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Mew
Governor Snyder is a chamber-of-commerce conservative who signed thr RTW out of spite towards the unions, not because he wanted it (he had actually called RTW too divisive and didn’t want it on his desk until the unions backed a refererendum that he didn’t like). Further, he is currently in the middle of a campaign to increase the state sales tax. I’ve lived under the guy and he gets no native son credit from me.
this is how you run for a cabinet position anymore apparently.