I'm not talking about the summer Olympics. Nor am I referring to some ancient calendar that speaks of earth's doom in 2012, or the movie about it.
No, I'm referring to the 2012 Presidential Campaign Season.
It's The Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol, and the Super Bowl, all in one event. Now that the Supreme Court has turned on the money spigots, it promises to be one doozie of a campaign season. Our 'athlete politicians' are already preparing for the event. (Welcome aboard Evan Bayh!)
The cast of contestants for the next season is already starting to take shape:
- We'll probably have a lightweight with a pretty face (male or female). After all, attractiveness can never be underrated among voters. Perhaps a former male centerfold or beauty pageant contestant? Or maybe a celebrity spokesperson or TV anchor? Being able to read well from a teleprompter or your hand must count for something. A talk show host has a shot at it also -- Oprah or Ellen?
- Surely we will get a candidate attempting to continue a family dynasty. (Could be Hillary or Jeb or Evan. Don't see any Kennedy's on the horizon yet.)
- Speaking of the Kennedy's, we are sure to get a Dem who will want to emulate Ted and take on the sitting President. Whoever it is will surely use the late Senator's opposition to Carter as the prototype - probably even kicking off their campaign run in Massachusetts.
- We know there will be plenty Repubs running. Conservative or moderate, their unified platform will be: (1)Our President (who may or may not be a native born American) is bad for our country. (2)Our President wants to give your money to people who do not look like you or think like you. (3)Our President likes people from other countries more than he likes you. (4)Our President thinks he is better than you. There will be little in the way of details from the Repubs, just variations of the above messages blanketed across the airwaves, the web, tea parties, town halls, churches, and suburban neighborhoods. They will try to ride these sound bites all the way to the oval office - creating a vast right-wing echo chamber.
Will there be others?
There are some who see the emergence of a viable candidate from a Third Party.
James Altucher thinks so and elaborates in his recent post: Introducing the Third Party Candidates for 2012: Romney, Palin, Clinton, and More.
About Clinton he says,
Hilary [sic] Clinton is an interesting choice. She and Bill controlled the Democratic party for almost two decades so its hard to imagine her bolting the party. But if there is enough dissatisfaction with Obama she might come across as the only viable alternative even though Obama has got the party locked up in terms of pushing his own nomination in 2012. The only place she might be able to take her 18mm voters (the number of voters who voted for her in the Democratic primaries in 2008) would be to a third party. And despite her laying low right now as a loyal Secretary of State, she desperately believes she is the best person for the job and wants her chance to shine. Perhaps the Blue Dog Democrats would bolt to form their own party and make Hillary their leader. Bill Clinton in the early 90s was head of the Democratic Leadership Council, which the Blue Dog Democrats currently resemble.
I disagree with his statement "Obama has got the party locked up in terms of pushing his own nomination in 2012." (Maybe he meant to say the party itself should be locked up!)
Before Iowa, there were those saying Clinton had the race 'locked up'...and maybe she did at the time, however in today's world, politics is a day-to-day slog. Or, as Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, "One day you're in....the next day you're out."
Personally, I'm expecting Clinton and her VP choice Harold Ford to make a run for it. In somebody's mind this is a winning ticket. (I don't think so, but if I were Obama I'd try to get her on the Supreme Court.)
The question is: "Will any Democrat(s) abandon Obama in 2012?"
Did a Republican win Ted Kennedy's seat? Did the Saints win the Superbowl?
I'm no seer or prophet, I'm just reading the tea leaves. Probably doesn't matter what happens in Obama's White House -- campaign season is too enticing to resist for potential candidates. Especially those with national name recognition and money sources.
So is Evan Bayh really getting out of the game, or just starting it?