This morning, it became clear that the 2012 presidential race has already taken off. Candidates use leaks to the press to create political narratives. And overnight, Palin’s closest allies used the popular Politico to begin reestablishing their candidate by attacking the McCain campaign’s mishandling of their VP nominee. I doubted Palin would run for the top spot in 2012, but numerous reports have indicated that Palin is extraordinarily ambitious and hungry. Perhaps she already had her eyes set on a national spotlight, and John McCain simply helped introduce her sooner than planned.
It is also becoming clear that John McCain may have doubts his selection. Both candidates seem to be writing off their chances in 2008 and are now setting their sites on 2012. John McCain surely won’t run again, but he can try to undo what he started. And indeed, he may have fired first in the current war in the press. Three prominent moderate leaders have made public statements to undermine Palin’s legitimacy.
Moderate Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger said Palin wasn’t ready to be president, but would be before sworn in. And Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania who was disqualified for the VP nod because he is pro-choice, said McCain had to win his home state in order to win the presidency and that if he were selected things would look much different. Most damning of all, though, pointedly said, “Thank God she’s not going to have to be president from day one.”
Taken individually, these seem like gaffes that only undermine any chance of a John McCain come back. But collectively, one wonders if McCain is allowing his allies to undermine Palin’s opportunity to blame him for their upcoming electoral loss and reestablish herself as the frontrunner for 2012.
But frontrunner she is not. If there’s any doubt that the race to 2012 hasn’t already begun, Newsweek was nice enough to release our very first poll of who Republicans would support for the 2012 Republican nomination. The winner: Mitt Romney with 35%, then Mike Huckabee with 26% and Sarah Palin with 20%.
