Rangelife

Developing: Guy who has little chance at winning GOP nomination leading woman who has no chance at winning GOP nomination

Back in August 2006, I was one of many people to mock a poll that showed Rudy Giuliani beating Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. The hilarity that was obvious to anyone paying attention was that neither of those candidates were likely to be nominated once they had to go through the primary/caucus process.

And here we are, less than six months into the new President's term, and Gallup is already test-racing its horses.

Republicans would like to see Mitt Romney run for president again in 2012, a new poll suggests.

The Gallup poll, released on Wednesday, asked Republicans and Republican-leaning independents to chose between six possible candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination.

Romney, who was a front-runner for the 2008 nomination, came out on top with 26 percent of respondents. That gives the former Massachusetts Governor a slight advantage over Sarah Palin, who was chosen by 21 percent of the survey voters.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Minority Leader Newt Gingrich got 19 percent and 14 percent respectively, while much smaller numbers said they would support Governors Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) and Haley Barbour (Miss.)

Yes, it's early, but if you ask me Tim Pawlenty is the only one in this field who can win the nomination. Romney is parading around the country as the GOP Miss Congeniality. ("Look, if you had nominated me last year, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.")

But Romney's problems with authenticity are insurmountable; he will never win the trust of the GOP base on social issues, and the working-class base sees him as aristocratic. Also, he's a heretic.

Palin is beloved by the I-didn't-go-to-a-fancy-college crowd, but the GOP is so wounded, the non-Bible-Believing types know better than to nominate someone who's proven herself disastrous off-script. Also, she quit halfway into her one term as Governor. Everything she's touched in the past year has turned to dust.

Tim Pawlenty looks like the guy right now. He's the front-runner in my book. But it's not POTUS season yet. It's not even the pre-season. If the presidential election were the NFL, this would be mid-February, when everyone's just firing and hiring scouts and figuring out their cap situations. But Republicans are so broken and angry, no wonder they're looking forward to their next shot at the champ.

The JEB campaign begins... now

Florida crazy + San Francisco crazy = Jeb! Bush for President 2012!!!

And we can thank this gentleman for reminding us very explicitly that Jeb once governed the Pride of the Nation.

By the way, Jeb Bush's real name is John Ellis Bush. So "Jeb" is really a bastardization of his initials JEB. Who does that remind me of? Oh yes.

Oh boy. Say hello to SarahPAC

Governor Sarah Palin's book deal is intended to rebuild her brand while she still has a chance. (Does she? Have a chance?)

Now we read about Sarah Palin's PAC, interestingly named SarahPAC. Setting up a PAC is standard bipartisan practice, where Palin raises money for other politicians in her party, to earn their access and favor. To what end? Oh, no reason.

Whether we like it or not, we are going to have to hear about Palin as a GOP front-runner for 2012 by virtue of pure obviousness, even though she has no chance of winning the nomination. Sarah 2012 is the new Giuliani 2008. (And Mitt Romney 2012 is the new Mitt Romney 2008.)

Although I was hoping to forget about "Sarah," I still prefer to remember her musically.