If the presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

This did cross my mind...

 

Obama at 56 percent against a wide-open field is telling. I recall the board supporting Obama at D.C. levels in three polls leading into the 08 elections, something like 80-85 percent.

 

Chris Christie is a viable option only because he hasn't declared.

A candidate is always most popular before he announces. Perry was a previous example, Christie is next.

He's got a 46 percent approval rating in New Jersey and will have a difficult time getting r-elected, assuming he even runs for governor.

Best I recall, running for governor was Christie's first run at elected office, having previously been a U.S. Attorney. He'd get eaten alive, outside the friendly confines of places like Morning Joe.

Any Republican serious about running would wait until 2016 when a GOP victory is almost assured. The Democrats have no bench, no one is waiting in the wings. But the conventional wisdom is that Obama's weak and can be defeated in 2012 so Republicans have to get a serious candidate but right now it is a cast of cartoon characters, outside of Huntsman, the RINO only Democrats would vote for.

 

You never know, Jay.

In 92, most of the prominent Dems thought the best play was to wait for 96 instead of trying to take on Bush 41. The Repubs had no bench and 96 would be a much better opportunity, blah blah blah.

All of those other Dems probably had a good laugh when W.J. Clinton threw his hat in the ring, and look who wound up a 2-term president?

 

This. I think it was Cuomo and one other guy who was considered a front-runner, who sat out because they thought Bush I was unbeatable and at one point, it seemed that way.

That may have been the reason why quite a few republicans like Christie, Ryan and Daniels to name three, have said they won't run. Now it looks like a republican can win, and Christie (if he does really want to run) has to find a way to get in without making it seem like, "Oh, now you think you can win when you clearly did not before..."

Obama looked unbeatable in May. He may seem unbeatable again in a few months...

 

If Huntsman is so toxic to regular Republican voters, how did he ever get elected in Utah? Genuinely curious.

 

I don't think he's toxic at all. He just stays under the radar. He's from a small state, and the only reason most of us had heard of him before he ran for president was because he was a republican who went to work for Obama.

So much of primary season is fringe candidates and flavors of the month and Huntsman is neither. Also, moderate republicans typically struggle in the primaries since they start in states like Iowa, NH and South Carolina.

Also, as much as I like Huntsman, he doesn't exactly ooze personality.

 

It's the same argument republicans heard from eight years about how things would have been sunchine and lollipops if Gore was elected in 2000.

I don't know if things would be any better if McCain had won. He had a look on his face from the convention on that seemed to indicate he had given up, and I think the bulk of the party knew in 2008 that no republican was going to be able to win after eight years of Bush.

I think things would have been better if Hillary had won.

 

And the 2000 and 2004 elections showed that charisma is important. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it is...