by Wayne Douma

Created on: August 26, 2009

The political campaign season never seems to end in the United States. It seemed it was a mere weeks after Barack Obama's swearing in on January 20, 2009 that the media was already on the "who's running next time" bandwagon. For a political junkie like myself, this is great, but for average who say they are tired of campaigns this might be a nightmare. A poll done by realclearpolitics.com during the 2008 election cycle showed 71% of Americans responding that political campaigns started too early. With the Super Tuesday date and Iowa caucus controversy over being first, the season just seems it will continue to begin earlier every year.

Anyway there have been names thrown for the GOP's 2012 nominees. Some of these are older faces from the last campaign cycle, and some new names have also already emerged as candidates.

~Tim Pawlenty~

The Minnesota Governor has had fairly high approval rating for governing a state that tends to be more "progressive" and has voted the likes of Jesse "The Body" Ventura for Governor and liberal comedian/racist Al Franken to a US Senate seat.

Pawlenty has been elected twice to the governorship of Minnesota, and has stated that he will not seek a third term for governor in 2010. Pawlenty has also been a frequent guest on news shows since the 2008 election of President Obama, and a big criticizer of government spending. A relative unknown to many people outside of the Midwest, Pawlenty's name reached more of an audience when he was rumored to be on the short list for John McCain's VP pick. He still is not a household name from the GOP and could the a dark-horse in 2012, much like Mike Huckabee came from nowhere in 2008 to finish second in the Republican primaries.

~Mike Pence~

Not much talk has circulated about the House Republican from Indiana, but he could be another of these new faces emerging in 2012. If the GOP truly wants to return to the "party of Reagan" and move back towards conservatism then Pence is their man. He is a strong conservative, who is very well liked by constituents, and conservative ideologues nationwide.

One of the rising stars in the GOP, Pence has been a frequent on cable news networks the last few months. Not just Fox-News either like many might expect, but Pence has also reached out by appearing on networks like MSNBC and CNN. Mike Pence is also a frequent guest invited to conservative meetings like 2009 CPAC Conference in Washington DC, the 2009 Values Voter Summit in September

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