Gallup's already polling for the 2012 presidential race and Mike Huckabee tops the list for the GOP. Who's your top pick right now?

The only good thing about Huckabee is that he is a supporter of H.R. 25 (The Fair Tax). If we really want to make this economy strang and unstoppable, we should pass HR 25.

It's Huckabee's fault we got McCain as the 2008 Republican nominee.

**edit** that should saw Strong and Unstoppable.

wow, i shouldn't type when i first get up!

saw =say

We just finished a local election for city council which had major personnel changes due more to incumbents not running, this however is a start. So what do we get for our news, what will happen in the 2012 election for President. C'mon man, next year we have the opportunity to replace our county commissoners and I bet only the 100,000 or so of us voted in the city council election know who they are. If you truly want change you need to replace the existing. Change the baby.

who cares, nobody votes! We have become so apathetic and hope somebody else will do it, vote for us. I am ashamed of us and how lazy we have become. I bet 99% of callers, writers do not vote. What a shame.

I think it is a little early to try to pick a presidential runner, I chose other because I do not think Sara Palin is capable of the job, however if obama runs for re-election I think Mickey Mouse could beat him. The problem is that not enough of us who are fed up with our government actually vote. We have to get energized and defeat the taxocrats at their own game, like they say and do, vote early and often. I for one think it is time for term limits on every elected official, sure some of you will say our vote is the term limit, sorry folks, not enough of us vote. I mean every public elected official from dog catcher up to president. Maybe then we can start to get some of the crooks out.

Palin made Obama President, and she can ensure he gets another four years. Palin! Pailin! Palin!

I agree with "Worked Polls Tuesday" - I am ashamed of the people of this region and this country for not voting. I was a precinct judge for years and the only people who voted were the old people and the young kids (18 to 25).
Why don't you care people? Do you reallly think it is going to get any better if you don't elect people who will listen to both sides of an issue and then make an educated decision? Also, we need those who have been in office forever to get out - voluntarily or with people getting out to vote.

OK, let me explain: The progressive in me wants Palin becuase that would make sure Obama gets four more years. But, Mitt Romney is clearly the most qualified of the Republican bunch. Evangelicals, however, will boycott him if he makes it onto the ticket. I don't believe Republicans have anyone who could win a national election right now. That said, three years is a long time - just look at Obama. Nobody knew him three years before his election.

Thank you I.M. Dem for that lack of wisdom. I thought the GOP running the RINO McCain combined with the media's 24/7 non stop hate mongering of GW was the reason the country elected a communist.

I hate to agree with I.M. Dem but in this case I believe he is correct. The conservative base may want Sarah Palin, but I strongly believe that she is unelectable. She would do better for the Republican party if she ran as Senator from Alaska. However with her recent resignation and troubles up there she might find that race difficult also. The Republicans better look deep and hard into their party to find a electable conservative. If the go the route with a McCain type candidate again they will hand Obama another 4 years.

The evangelicals need to get with the program and understand that this is a secular society and not try to block a candidate due to his religion. I don't care what a person's religion is as long as he upholds the principals that founded this great nation. If they have the same political beliefs as I do, they can be an atheist for all I care. I remember that many talked about JFK being unelectable for being Catholic.

Loafer,

I agree that Palin is unelectable. My point is that Republican need to NOT listen to Dems because:
a) they don't have our interest at heart
b) They don't understand that without the base it does not matter how many Independents vote for the R candidate
c) They all lie anyway - so if they tell us that X is the reason our candidate didn't get elected then we REALLY need to push X type candidates.

Candidates like McCain, Graham, & Hucabee are just not electable. I held my nose and voted for McCain but it was ONLY because he had the great insight to add Palin to the ticket - else I'd of stayed home.

If we look back at all of the rehtoric from the 2008 campaign, and all of the debate Q&A's, and with hindsight we ask, "Who got it right?" Well the answer is... Ron Paul was Right. His message was just a little to old school and had too much tough love to get the vote.
As a member of the NC GOP, I don't see anyone on the horizon worth rolling out of bed for and voting for, but things could change, and change in a hurry.

Sarah Palin? Really?

Hit submit before I meant to...

I'd rather see Romney run again. But my views are much more in line with Ron Paul than anyone else.

I don't think Palin is unelectable. I think you guys are buying into nonsense. I would prefer to see her on the bottom of a ticket initially, but she is a smart woman and very, very capable.

McCain is the reason we have Barack...and frankly I am glad we don't have McCain. If McCain had won, we would not be having a resurgence as we now are. Of course it would not be as necessary as it is right now either. But McCain would be bad for the US also, just less bad.

I believe that Huckabee would have defeated Barack in a general election because he would have used Barack's history and background as campaign issues....remember moron McCain told the GOP to shut up about Barack's background, about his associations. McCain was and is one of the most self-serving senators (excepting his military service).

Mitt Romney will support or oppose whatever the winds of change tell him. His Massachussets version of Obamacare is a disaster. Sure he is a businessman...Huckabee should make him the Industry Czar in his administration. Huckabee has the experience of being an executive and he is a great debator.

Unless a bright and shining conservative star rises out of nowhere, my ticket choice would be Romney for prez, Palin for VP.

As much as I think that Palin fires up the conservative base, I am not sure that she is ready for the presidency. I really like Representative Mike Pence from Indiana. He is intelligent, well spoken, has good ideas, and I think he would really exite the conservatives in this country. I think, unfortunately, he may be too conservative for the current leadership of the Republican party.

I don't know if Representative Pence has any presidentail aspirations, but I think he would be good for a struggling republican party, and really good for the country...

But before 2012 there will be a revolution in this nation. You'll see. It doesnt have to be bloody and all that history book stuff... It could be as simple as 1/2 of this nation standing up, finally, and saying NO to Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the rest of those buffoons. No to health care, no to Cap and Trade... Simply NO. They're going to shove this health care crap down our throats in the next few months - its going to happen. But we can and WILL say NO. We wont join it, they cant FORCE US TO. Show us where it says that we HAVE TO buy something that the government offers. Go ahead. You dont even need to buy a stamp to mail something via that pathetic US postal service. You can choose ANY private mail service, all the same. Taxes you say? Thats not a product or service. And, dont worry - Geithner and tons of others up there didnt pay their taxes either. Most just havent been caught YET. So, no, we're not going to buy your stupid health care AND we're not going to pay your "penalty" either. How do you like that? What are you going to do now? Declare us all criminals? You dont have enough room for the REAL criminals that get away with murder and crimes each and every day anyway. We're not going to pay your stupid global warming hoax tax either. We're not going to allow you to come onto our property and install any so-called "smart" meters, so that you can 'monitor' us. You're going to finally listen to the voices of WE THE PEOPLE and leave us alone. If the other 1/2 doesnt like it then they can pick the nation of their choice and move there. They'll get all of the socialized health care they can ask for, global warming taxes galore, nice little electric cars and sissy scooters to drive around in, and have the ability to see 'real' art and crap over in France... Enjoy. Oh, and you can purchase all of the China-made crap that you want. We're going to start producing products HERE AGAIN and rehire those displaced, outsourced un and underemployed US citizens again and become the global leader in manufacturing, energy production and services. You wont be able to stop us. THAT, my friends, is the beginning of a non-blood revolution. Just say NO to all of this BS. A word that many of these 60's fruitcakes never heard, nor spoke to their own offspring either. You're gonna learn it.

I agree, kaync, Romney for prez, palin for vp. I don't give a **** about romney's religion. His is better than aitheism like kathy's and i m dem and pratt. Cuz you can't believe in a religion and be a utopian at the same time. I think that would be the perfect match up.

To me, Sarah Palin is the biggest insult to women. McCain must have been channeling some fetish with Barbie dolls when he picked her (look at McCain's wife - same thing). None of the named choices is attractive as an alternative to President Obama, but I would have to pick Huckabee as the least bad option.

@Kathy,
I think McCain knew that he had no real chance to win the election. He did not have the support of his own parties base, and democrats never vote for the democrat lite republicans. I think he took a calculated gamble and picked someone that would look good on camera, energize the conservative base, and would be a good scapegoat when he lost.

Palin has the potential to be a superstar in the republican party...in several years. she needs to get some more experience under her belt first.

McCain was looking for someone that he could blame for his own lack of ability to carry his own party. it was a cowardly move on his part.

Jim, Republicans can't even get to the voting stations, and you think they will stand up and rebel? I'm not worried.

Will, so you would be fine with a Muslim? That's very tolerant of you. Keep going - you may become enlightened yet.

DMG, Ron Paul is a great guy and very entertaining. I am confident, however, that his stand on a woman's right to chose, and his liberal view on drugs totally disqualify him as a Republican candidate. Can you imagine the religious freaks in the party when they realize that Ron Paul is actually a liberal on social issues?

@ Kathy,
Ron Paul's view on drugs and abortion are personally the same as most so called consevatives. He does not advocate either. However as a US representitive who has studied the Constitution, he understands that the Federal Government has no legal authority in either issue. He knows it's a state issue and therefore should be handled by the states.

And whoever said that McCain is the reason we have Obama is slightly off. We got Obama because of McCains nomination. We got McCain because of the MSM and open primaries. NC GOP should cloes it's primary to Republicans only. Then the GOP would have their true candidates and have to win or loose with them.

HMMMMMM. Experience under Palin's belt. Sign me up.

Kathy,
I have to applaud you on completely ignoring my request for facts yesterday and spewing more drivel about how the republican party sucks. You have no facts. You never do. Neither does Pratt. The only one of you that can come up with something other than a media based biased liberal straight line OPINION is IM Dem. He at least attempts, and admittedly sometimes succeeds in backing his opinion with fact. Keyword there is sometimes. It doesn't matter his facts may be slightly wrong, or based on biased reporting. At least he tries to interject them in the conversation.

Folks at the rate Obama and the democrats are going, I think Mickey Mouse could get the job over him. Look at Virginia and NJ and raise a cheer. Republicans are voting again. They see what happened and aren't going to stand for it.. at least for a little while. Out of the choices, Mitt Romney is by far the best.

I'd personally like to see Ross Perot run again.. but that's not going to happen. "You can't solve the national deficit by nailing a chicken's testicles to a barn door" Makes as much sense as anything else coming out of the political BS factory about now.

@ Jim1,

very nice...well played.

PS Sign me up as well

Nope, woudn't have a problem in the world for a muslim prez. At least they have morals like not killing babys. Of course he would have to be a conservative. And I am not talking about islamofascists.

Kathy,

Only a woman who looks like a cabbage patch kid would object to and find insulting the Barbie doll choice.

i hope the koolaid drinkers do put palin on the ballot, she cost the new york race yesterday. so please put that idiot on the ballot, that would take the gop down from 17% to about 10% of the drugster koolaid drinker birthers to vote for her. what a joke she is, but with all the idiots moving from charlotte now she may could get 20%. We all just love it. she and the drugster blamed everybody but themselves over the defeat in new york. Maybe that idiot could be her running mate. what a referendum on conservative ideas as the drugster put it last week concerning the new york race. when will all of you wake up to the fact that the majority do not believe your lies anymore. just keep drinking that koolaid.

As much as I love Jim's post about standing up and saying "NO", unless the entire Republican party is willing to do that, it won't happen. It won't happen.

Also, remember, we're all American's - you can't just choose a group that doesn't agree with your opinions and tell them to move to another country if they don't like the other's opinions.

Kathy,

What are your top three reasons why you are insulted by Sarah Palin?

@Pratt,
its amazing how we conservatives talk about issues and ideals, and you call names and try to demean peoples personal character. That is more a sign of an angry mob mentality rather than a political party/movement/ideology.

I don't think that all of the people in the republican party are great, morally upstanding citizens who have never let thier addictions or lapses in judgement get away from them. With that being said many of your legends/heroes in the democrat party or no more moral, honest, upstanding, or in general better people.

Just because you disagree with someones political ideology, does not give you the right to demean them as a person. All people have their stregnths and weaknesses. There is no man that is above reproach, and once you enter the political arena the percentage of good people who strive to do the right thing drops off considerably. And that goes for both parties.

But trying to argue issues by name calling and personal attacks is juvinile.

Well said, Chris! But you have to consider the mentality, or lack of, pratt. He keeps talking about a drugster but has no response when I point out that his Messiah, Obama is a confessed cocaine abuser.

I don't see anyone in the Republican party at present that could energize the conservative base to claim victory in a general election. Not that one won't come along but as of today I don't see anyone. When I talk about the conservative base I am not talking only about the Republican Party, there are many independent and Democrat conservatives out there as we saw when Regan was elected to the presidency.

Palin gets my vote. The term PILF comes to mind.

Not sure I can rank them, but here are three reasons I feel Palin is an insult to women.

- She was picked because she is a women
- She opposes civil right
- She is a quitter

Will, good for you for being tolerant.

John T, I guess, being a guy, you have never had a PILF before. How was the almost VPILF fantasy?

senior, I don't see a Republican who could energize anyone. The term "energy" and "Republican" just don't fit. It's an old, white, male party after all.

jeff, I completely agree with Ron Paul on those issues. My point was that the base of the Republican Party won't allow him to be the candidate.

No Kathy, it is not. How you can say that when the head of the Republican party is an African-American is beyond me.

senior, he's the token black to add some semblance of diversity. There's Condi and Colin, too, but most "Real" Republicans would rather see them back in the cotton fields.

Kathy,
Go find something else to do. You are becoming useless and demeaning. I now see that all of your "truth" about the government comes from white house press releases and liberal editorials. If you can't make statements about people without insulting them, you are obviously EXACTLY what the democratic party wants you to be, a sheep. Congrats you found the party line. Lets insult everyone when they don't agree, and when you get called out, Call them all racists. There is no use in the US for your kind. Try logic and facts for once. Sadly though, I doubt you could support your opinion with them as logic and facts are conservative... does that make logic and facts racists as well?

Aren't logic and facts considered scientific? I don't think they'd fall into the definition of conservative.

conservative–adjective
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

Really??

Go look up sarcasm..

Dan S, considering that for the majority of what I've been reading and posting, I've been siding with you - it's disappointing that you'd post something like that.

Don't call something conservative if it isn't. Because then you are deameaning and reducing the true definition of conservative, and making it a joke.

SARCASM...

Some people... here I'll edit the last sentence to convey a similar meaning.. minus the sarcasm:

Sadly though, I doubt you could support your opinion with them as logic and facts lately have been supporting the conservative view... does that make logic and facts racists as well?

Dan S, truth hurts, doesn't it?

Kathy,
Yes it hurts that the current president has decided he and the current congress don't need to follow the CONSTITUTION that declares Federal powers EXPLICITLY. Not implicitly.. meaning anything not stated in the Constitution is the right of the states. NO WHERE does the Constitution state that the federal government can offer, administer, or force you to buy health insurance. Meaning any bill they pass saying otherwise is unconstitutional. Have fun with that one. You really need to work on your reading comprehension.

Dan S., the U.S. Constitution definitely does not give you the right to decide what is constitutional and what is not. It does, however, clearly state that the courts are charged with that determination. I will wait for the courts rather than trust your belief.

Kathy,

Where in hell did that come from? He wasn't saying that he has the right to descide what is and isn't. Courts my aching butt. Find a place where it says the government has ANY power to dictate anything. It is the governments "job" (if you will) to see that the rights of the American people are withheld. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. NOT to push what they THINK the people need but rather the upholding of inalienable rights. You must be having your monthly thing. You have been off on every comment you have made today. And by the way, your lack of response to my query of yesterday as to the "services and facilities that are needed" is still unanswered.

The only guy from *either* major party who I feel deserves my vote is Dr. Ron Paul. However, if he decides not to run in '12 because he feels his advancing age might pose an image/PR problem, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson might make a pretty solid choice too.