by Michael Skinner

Created on: August 25, 2009   Last Updated: March 10, 2010

For a while Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was all the rage in the Republican Party. Then he botched the Republican response to the Presidential message and his stock sunk. One bad speech does not mean that Governor Jindal is out of the race forever. Bill Clinton once gave a long, boring atrocious speech before becoming president of the United States. However, when part of your charm is intelligence and competence, it definitely does not help when you sound neither. The advantage George Bush Jr had is that no one thought he was a rocket scientist so if he sounded stupid that was to be expected.

Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota still looks good and sounds intelligent so he is one of the folks who should be going toe to toe against Bobby Jindal for the nomination.

Former governor and preacher Mike Huckabee, while not a new face will probably make a return appearance. With any luck he will cut into the stupid vote for Palin because he is a genuine religious conservative and can speak English and answers questions intelligently.

For any who think that America's business is business, former Governor George Romney should run again. If you want a good looking, smooth talker for a Republican nominee, Romney would be your man. Once again, in a nation of Protestants and Catholics, being a Mormon is sure to hurt Romney. You can say what you like about this but as long as no truly believing Christian will vote for an atheist, the religious test for the presidency is real. No, Romney is not an atheist, the point is that for Protestants and Catholics, it matters what their president believes about God and faith.

If the Republicans and the nation are lucky, the Tea Parties will take over and turn all the right wing rascals out.

For the Democrats, especially since they hold the political reigns of power now, you could say everyone and no one is a candidate for the presidency in 2012. Unless Obama really botches something, he will be the nominee in 2012. He is doing most of the bidding of the left and it is the left in the Democratic Party that picks the nominee. Many members of the House of Representatives and every Senator thinks they could be president. But most will forgo running in 2012 unless Obama is politically wounded.

If Obama faces a challenge it is likely to be from the center. So expect that some Midwestern governors may challenge him like the governors of Indiana, Illinois or Ohio. Speaking of Indiana, the Bayh family has turned out a series of governors and senators. Sooner or later someone like former Governor Evan Bayh may run for the presidency.

Few things in America are more conservative than a southern governor so any southern Democratic governor might want to toss his hat in the ring. At present, no Democrat seems to be sticking his head up to run against Obama.

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