The GOP Bench

It's no earth-shattering revelation to note that while the GOP has a number of solid governors, senators, and Congressmen, it is lacking in obvious talent prepared to vie for the Presidency in 2012.

A recent Hotline poll shows Obama up by only 2%, 44-42, against the generic GOP candidate. Among potential GOP candidates, there is no clear leader. Here are my thoughts on the contenders in this crazy-early, not really worth bothering about survey:

Romney (14%): Great policies. Great look. Really boring. GOP should only nominate him if they want to run a decent losing campaign.
Palin (11%): Does not look like Presidential material to me. Could have a role as kingmaker, though.
McCain (7%): C'mon, seriously? This guy already lost to Obama once. How old should the GOP's candidates be?
Brown (4%): Well, he'd have more Senate experience in 2012 than Obama had in 2008.... But for realsies, let's see how he looks in a year or two.
Huckabee (3%): My nightmare GOP candidate. Would look like W on steroids if elected.
Gingrich (3%): I have a soft spot for old Newt. He served a great role keeping Clinton in check. And he's been a useful conservative voice since he left Congress. But I think his negatives are too great to be a serious contender.
Paul (2%): I have a soft spot for Ron Paul, too. I think this would be a better country if he had a prayer of being elected. But he doesn't.
Pawlenty (1%): I hear good things, but really have no idea.
McDonnell (1%): Like Brown, let's check back in a year.
Thompson (1%): Has a useful place in the GOP. Just not in the Executive branch.
Jindal (1%): A star in Louisiana politics, but not sure if his quirks work on the national stage.

If Marco Rubio notches a primary win against Charlie Crist and goes on to defeat Kendall Meek for Florida Senator, look for him to start showing up in these pools by mid-November of this year. There's one to watch.

Also, interesting that Giuliani didn't even register. Are his Presidential hopes dead following his dreadful 2008 primary campaign?

Poll Shenanigans

It's endlessly amusing to read Daily Kos' interpretation of poll results. And we're in for a treat this year, because according to Kos himself, they will be buying thousands of polls this year. So there will be plenty to interpret.

The latest laugher is this one, which breaks down like this:

In general, would you say that President Obama's views and proposed programs for the country are too liberal, not liberal enough, or just about right for the country?

Not liberal enough 10%
Just about right 42%
Too liberal 46%

Kos' interpretation is that this means a 52-46 majority that thinks Obama is either OK or needs to lean left.

Hopefully, the problem with this analysis is obvious, but if not I'll spell it out: I could use the exact same logic to argue that an 88-10 majority thinks Obama is either OK or needs to lean right.