Greenville, South Carolina (CNN) - Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has visited South Carolina more than any other potential presidential hopeful, and his efforts paid off Saturday with a straw poll win at the Greenville County Republican Party convention. Santorum was one of three potential candidates to address Saturday’s convention. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also spoke.
Vote-rich and conservative, Greenville County plays a pivotal role in the South Carolina presidential primary, traditionally one of the first states to cast ballots in the presidential nomination process. Santorum, who arrived early at the convention and donned a Palmetto-patterned pink tie for the day, won the straw poll with 31 percent of the 431 votes cast. Finishing second was Gingrich, who took 14 percent. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and reality television star Donald Trump tied for third at seven percent.
Does it matter? There’s not a single one worth voting for at the moment. When Donald Trump actually shows up in polls ya got nothing.
Unless Obama really screws the pooch he’s a shoo in.
I see two scenarios: someone (relatively) unknown comes out of nowhere (ala Obama in 2008) or it’s Romney/Huckabee. There are no other serious candidates.
A documentary on Trumps destruction of some of Scotlands greatest nature - I decided to help fund it thinking that anything that hurts Trump is good in my book. Just wanted to pass it along.
Since 2008 the conventional wisdom has been that they’ll be at a heavy disadvantage and that Palin and/or the Tea Party are big problems inside or outside of a GOP presidential ticket. Frankly I’ve never found it all that convincing and am deferring prognostication until we’re well into the election year and Nate Silver is talking about electoral maps.
I also think Palin can be nominated by the Republicans and subsequently win election, in spite of all assertions to the contrary. Neither should be possible, but there’s something horribly familiar about that particular impossible nightmare.
Obama’s a significantly above-average charismatic speaker type, but that’s a second-order effect after the economy and war. I think if you project the current economy and wars forward he wins barely. Assuming we’ve started the recovery, he should win handily.
Bush got re-elected in 2004 with gains in the House and Senate. The Republicans came storming back in every arena in 2010, 2 short years after the start of their “generational” political exile for completely ruining the country.
I know it’s “impossible” that she’d win. But like I said it’s a terrifyingly familiar sort of impossible.
If Obama wins, which I think he will, I just hope that the dems dont also get full control of congress again. Nothing good comes out of one party controlling everything, it doesnt matter what party it is.