SWAC Girl has this about the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and Mike Pence’s appearance there. Pence is starting to get noticed as a darkhorse candidate for 2012. My like for Pence is pretty well known. This video demonstrates why:
Rep. Mike Pence: Administration Solutions: Spend, Tax, Repeat from RNC New Media on Vimeo.
Brian Kirwin, from Bearing Drift, has an interesting perspective on the 2012 GOP field. While I don’t disagree with his assessment entirely, I have to point out that Ron Paul can put boots to the ground when it’s needed. He does energize younger voters and in my view, still has somewhat of an outsider appeal, although he’s been in Washington for years. Brian asks the question, if not Romney or Palin or Paul, then who?
A credible alternative, in my estimation, would be Mike Pence. Well liked by most conservatives, Pence offers a sensible alternative to Romney and a more experienced alternative to Palin. His work in the GOP Conference on energy and health care reform make him a natural conservative counterbalance to Obama. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I’d be persuaded to vote GOP in 2012 instead of Constitution Party for Pence or for Ron Paul. That’s about it.
By one vote. The encouraging news(at least for me) is Ron Paul finished second. Granted, many were probably bused in, but still a strong showing for Paul.
Doug Mataconis from Below the Beltway,has a good snapshot analysis of the vote breakdown and points out:
It’s fascinating that these guys finished ahead of Palin and Gingrich, who get rock star treatment at these sorts of gatherings and, indeed, got rock star treatment at this particular gathering.
I find this interesting as well. I agree with Doug’s assessment that this is meaningless right now, I do believe that the GOP has a healthy sized field for this early in the process.