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The Spectacle Blog
As per this article, one big consideration for Mike Pence in deciding whether to run for president is whether the money would be available. It seems to me that if Dick Armey, Morton Blackwell, Brent Bozell and Jim Ryun can’t help raise enough money, nobody can. Obviously, those are some big guns to have on one’s side. For the past year I have had other big-name conservative leaders tell me they, too, would like to see Pence run. And Pence has been working the vineyards long enough that he has many friends in all the major activist groups, so even if his nationwide name ID is fairly low, his ID with the workers and leaders and financiers is very high — as is the level of goodwill for him. He also easily passes the intellectual seriousness quotient, with George Will providing the political equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on that front. The Wall Street Journal likes Pence, too. With all that going for him, it seems unimaginable that he would’t be able to raise the necessary money.
What remains is how “called” Pence feels to try to make the leap in 2012. Some would argue that it is a call to duty. The 2012 presidential election is, in many ways, the whole ball of wax. I have written before that I almost always reject the quadrennial trope that THIS election, or THIS one, or THIS one, is the most important in our lifetimes. I have rejected it every time since 1980. But in this case, I do think it is the most important election since 1980. Barack Obama has put this nation on a precipice. He is no Bill Clinton, triangulating and trying to maintain his “viability within the system.” Obama is playing for keeps. His agenda is the biggest departure from American norms in 80 years. And he has made scary headway. Health care, banks, car companies, college education, and other industries all have been brought unde the government thumb as never before. With four more years to consolidate his actions, and add to them, and to appoint judges who will uphold them, and to further seed the bureaucracy with lefties and have them abuse their authority, Obama could do damage from which this nation never recovers. This is no time for moving up the ladder (via the Indiana governorship) just because conventional wisdom says that is how a House member can eventually become president. Really, is Pence’s heart with national issues, or state-level ones? Or, put it this way: Are his biggest WORRIES about the future of Indiana, which already is well governed, or with the future of the nation? And does he see anybody else who might run for president who he thinks both really “gets it” philosophically and who is at least as well positioned to actually win the whole shebang as he is? Pence is a conservative who, because he is a gentleman, is known for stirring rhetoric but NOT for tearing down opponents. He just doesn’t turn people off. He’ll get a listen from independents because of his style, whereas other conservatives are more polarizing in tone. Does Pence think other full-spectrum conservatives can beat Obama? Does he think there are others with the media experience he has as a successful former radio talk-show host — Ronald Reagan proved how great a communications training ground that daily radio work can be — or does he worry that nobody else knows how to cut through the fog of the establishment media?
Those who argue that a House member can’t make the leap to president are stuck in the past. Modern media allows people to become household names overnight. It allows campaigns to be organized far more easily, with people sitting in their own living rooms all communicating with each other instantaneously. How much have things changed? Well, just 20 years ago it would have been all but unimaginable for leading presidential or vice presidential candidates to be black or a woman, or to hail from lightly populated states like Idaho-via-Alaska, like Hawaii, like Delaware or Wyoming, or to be born in the Panama Canal Zone. Only one senator since 1920 had been elected president, and he (JFK) probably stole it. Nobody since Lincoln had so little experience in federal office or executive positions. Yet Barack Obama blew away both of those “barriers.” The truth is, the old barriers do not exist.
The remaining question is, does Mike Pence feel ready for the job? Is he personally confident he can serve this country well in the Oval Office? He would need to feel a call to service, not a call to ego. But when leading figures are openly urging somebody to run for office, it is clear that there’s something at work other than self-driven ambition. It certainly doesn’t look like ego. It looks like a draft.
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/21/pennies-for-pence
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NVA Patriot| 1.21.11 @ 6:06PM
Q,
You and many other commentators write about this person or that person running for President. Most of you either directly or indirectly disparage Sarah Palin.
You all better be careful. You really don't know how much the the establishment is disliked and quite frankly hated at the grass roots level. George Will and Krauthammer endorsements of candidates is the touch of campaign death among the grass roots.
SP has a stronger, deeper, more committed following than what anyone perceives inside DC.
Each time we have run a soft moderate squish dem lite we lose. Reagan won with boldness. Bush I won on Reagan's coat-tails. Bush 2 won barely only because Gore was really bad - he lost his home state - and the media savaged Bush with a well timed assault at the last minute.
Those things are less effective now.
A moderate will lose to Obama. Obama without a Teleprompter is not much of a speaker and he will lose a debate with someone his age who's quick with a 1 liner. He'll win against some who looks 'plastic'=Romney.
If you keep pounding on Palin directly and indirectly you will create the thing most feared - a losusy 3rd party that ensures a conservative Presidential loss.
tatosian| 1.22.11 @ 4:29AM
The Tea Party would be an ideal third party. Look what they've accomplished. And relative rookies besides.
As a conservative, why is my only acceptable choice for polical representation the Republican party. The same Republican party that got us here.? The party that hoped I might get all runny cause they read the constitution? The same party that sent 4 of it's newest stars on a taxpayer funded trip to the war zone? (Hey, it's not the money, it's the attitude). Same pro amnesty party featuring Jeb Bush?
I want another choice.
It's the Tea party or nothing, er, Republican right now.
C Bowen| 1.21.11 @ 6:22PM
A pro-Amnesty, pro-global democratic revolutionist?
I am not sure even the most liberal Bush/McCain supporters would consider opening the wallet, but I think the populace has rejected invade the world/invite the world for the Republican Party.
Thomas Cheplick| 1.21.11 @ 6:44PM
Another poignant and great article from one of the Spectator's finest writers!
All those reasons listed in 'Pennies for Pence' and more are why I urge everyone to come to www.TheConservativeChampion.org to sign our declaration cheering Mike Pence on into the 2012 Race for the White House!
*WE need to make SURE he gets IN this very crucial race -- the most important Presidential Race of our Lifetime -- against Pres. Obama.*
He is set to make his decision at the end of... THIS month (!!) and Major Conservative & Tea Party leaders like Dick Armey, Brent Bozell, Morton Blackwell, Erick Erickson, and others all have ENDORSED him. There is nobody ELSE like him -- he was the first to stand up to Karl Rove to fight against the bailouts, he stands strong on national defense and fights Planned Parenthood tooth-and-nail!
www.TheConservativeChampion.org
Thomas
"I did not come to Washington to expand the size and scope of government. I did not come to Washington to ask working Americans to subsidize the bad decisions of corporate America.” - Rep. Mike Pence
C Bowen| 1.21.11 @ 8:02PM
Are you joking? He had been voting for Planned Parenthood subsidies since he arrive in DC--everyone of Bush's budgets.
Misha| 1.22.11 @ 8:52AM
Mike Pence has a 100% rating on pro-life issues and the Susan B, Anthony group love Pence. I think he is a top candidate and calling him a moderate or liberal conservative is crazy. Pence is the only person that voted against all the bailouts, including TARP. Pence has been a conservative when no one in the party was. His record is as good as DeMint or any other. Pence is actually sponsoring a seperate bill to specifically pull funding from any group that performs abortions like Planned Parenthood. He is the only one fighting against them in Congress. In addition, I went to the FRC convention in DC for the values voters and we loved him so much Pence won both the President and Vice-President straw poll there. He always states he is a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican in that order. That is the right order to me. And Pence has the right demeanor for the office. He is humble but firm in his beliefs, respectful of others unlike Obama, he is funny, intelligent and devoted to the conservative cause. Glenn Beck said there was only a handful of people in Congress he respected and believed were sincere, truthful, etc and he named Pence as one of them. Pence is also the only candidate that all the different GOP groups respect, from Tea Party to Christian conservatives, to more moderate groups. Moderates love him because he is a fiscal conservative like none other in the house. I dont work for him or anyone, just an average Jane, but I think he is the best candidate since Reagan. I love Sarah Palin, was part of the draft Sarah group before she was picked, still think she is awesome and I know she could win primary because there is great depth of feelings for her with many of us on right, including me. However, like it or not she is hated by left and this election at this moment in time is too important to chance on Sarah. We have to win and stop Obama. Pence could do it, Sarah probably not. Its just reality.
C Bowen| 1.22.11 @ 4:36PM
Pence voted for every Bush budget to subsidize Planned Parenthood and authored the House Amnesty bill. The notion that he is now on the side of the angels is ridiculous.
Deborah D | 1.22.11 @ 10:57AM
Methinks there are some other than conservatives responding to this article if they think Pence isn't conservative enough or well-liked by the Tea Party. Do some research.
C Bowen| 1.22.11 @ 6:33PM
Why did Pence vote, year after year, for abortion subsidies? Did he just this year do a Romney?
Jay Dee| 1.23.11 @ 7:17PM
C Bowen please, do your research.
C Bowen| 1.24.11 @ 5:53PM
Everyone of of Bush's budgets included abortion subsidies to Planned Parenthood--how did Pence vote on these budgets?
Oldefarte| 1.22.11 @ 11:50AM
Granted Pence is/should be a consideration, along with many, many other well qualified potential candidates. I do feel that Huckabee and Romney would be losers against Obama. IMO, what is now needed is a hell-raising, damn-the-torpedoes type of candidate that has the knowledge, political guts and ability state the truth. McCain [and Hillary] had the information at their disposal and took the political correctness route [and their end results were to lose to him]. An out of the mainstream candidate is needed, aka Trump, West, Palin, etc that will tell label these domestic terrorists for what they are in a take-no-prisoners political style!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OLDRAY| 1.22.11 @ 1:57PM
We can NOT save the country with another stock in trade Republican ticket. It could be done with a Palin-Rubio ticket. Sure it would drive the left crazy, but it would inspire the right, center ,young & old. Otherwise, it will be Obama again, for sure.
Oldefarte| 1.23.11 @ 9:34AM
AMEN......TRUTH!!!!!!!
Rich Rostrom| 1.22.11 @ 4:47PM
"Barack Obama blew away both of those 'barriers.' The truth is, the old barriers do not exist."
He also blew away the barrier against ethnically non-white-bread candidates. Before him, the only national candidates who were not northwest-European descent were Agnew, Muskie, Ferraro, Dukakis, and Lieberman (and only Agnew was elected).
Baseball stats wizard Bill James had a comment about a performance which massively breaks a record. A lot of people say "That'll never happen again," but James noted that such a performance is usually a sign of changed conditions that now permit frequent comparable performances.
Thus with Obama; it's not just him. A lot of things have changed. For instance, no national candidate ever came from a 3-electoral-vote state before 2000 (except Sen. Joe Lane in 1860), but Cheney, Biden, and Palin all did. McCain's overseas birth is without precedent; so is Obama's foreign parent.
The game has changed.
Michael L. Hauschild| 1.22.11 @ 6:02PM
I have sent money to Thompson, I have sent money to Romney, I have sent money to Palin to help her fight her lawsuits in Alaska, I sent money to Brown, Bachman, and the lady running against the clown that roughed up the student. The only return I have realized is Palin’s voice and support to the candidates that I wanted. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY is going to get another dime from me unless Palin says so.
Jay Dee| 1.23.11 @ 7:18PM
Palin will be the first to endorse him.
Bob Miller| 1.22.11 @ 10:38PM
I'd be more than happy to have Pence or Palin as President. Each has particular strengths, but both live and breathe conservative principles, unlike charlatans like, say, Gingrich or Romney.
e cowan| 1.23.11 @ 2:18PM
Not even a ha'penny for any of the Ethanol Four:
Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, South Dakota senator John Thune, and Indiana congressman Mike Pence...
Katrina Trinko writes on NRO: What kind of Republican supports high tariffs on imports, dubious green tax credits, and consumption mandates to prop up unprofitable environmental darlings? The ethanol-loving midwestern kind, especially the ones running for president. Currently, imported ethanol is slapped with a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff, while oil companies receive a 45-cent tax credit per gallon . .
tatosian| 1.23.11 @ 9:08PM
It was said earlier on that the game has changed.
No doubt the faces in the game are changing. But the game of politics never changes.
Politics is about power.
Whatever changes those faces might indicate, the reality for those who oppose government intrusion into our lives remains unchanged; we have no power.
And we have, at best, only marginal representation. And that marginal representation mostly consists of the ill fated hopes and dreams we project onto whatever Republican we're electioneering, funding and voting for.
We tell ourselves that this is a conservative nation but that conservatism is nowhere to be seen in the beltway.
We can go on like this, electing a new majority of republicans or democrats every two years, or we can electioneer, fund and vote for what we need; smart, contrarian fighters who have no interest in getting along with the forces that would see us removed from political representation.
The Republican party is not the solution to what ails us. Independence is.