An interesting survey from Conservative Home USA reports that the conservative intelligentsia – much of it DC-based – doesn’t think much of the Republican party’s presidential hopefuls. Asked to rank possible contenders across eight categories the only people to score highly are, wait for it, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and Mitch Daniels.
Keen-eyed readers will notice that Christie has been offering super-Shermanesque denials about running, Bush is, well, a Bush and Daniels is also ambivalent about entering the race. So who’s left? A motley crew of people Conservative Home’s panel of “insiders and influencers” consider less than ideal candidates. Here’s a box-ticking summary:
Among the notable things to consider here is the extent to which a Romney or a Pawlenty may have to pitch themselves as the most acceptable compromise candidate. Unfortunately “Settle for me! Please!” is not a great campaign theme.
All this highlights the unfortunate state of the Republican party. To borrow from a fine Jonah Goldberg column, the battle is between the Fixers and the Fighters. The Fixers are the more credible candidates for a general election; the Fighters may have an advantage in the primary. But the Fixers also seem wary of both the mood of the Conservative movement and, maybe, the dangers of challenging an incumbent President who, for all his problems, remains more popular than his party.
Of course this is just a survey of DC “influencers” and easily – too easily – dismissed as the hand-wringing hopelessness of Beltway insiders who’ve been selling out the movement for years. Nevertheless, their views count too and not the least interesting aspect of the GOP primary will be the battle between the party’s establishment and its more militant, provincial wing. That’s partly a question of attitude and style of course but it’s also a subset of or related to the frame of Fixers vs Fighters that Goldberg uses to define the coming contest.
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