In the middle of our anti-incumbent, anti-Washington primary season for the 2010 congressional races there are a large number of old and new faces plotting their path to the White House in January, 2013.
As President Obama's poll numbers stay mired below 50%, unemployment stays too high and our debt rises to staggering figures, many Republicans are looking towards 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with high expectations.
Remember two years before Obama ran for president very few people in the overall population had even heard of the new senator from Illinois.
Change happens quickly in politics and Republicans can smell blood in the water. We will be seeing a large number of candidates testing their themes before the American public now and into the near future.
If you want to know who might be running for president from the GOP side just check your local bookstore and see who has new books on the shelf. Because if the candidates are writing a book then the odds are very good that they are running for president in 2012.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has a new book To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine which should play well with the right-wing base of the GOP. Gingrich is actually an historian with a good track record of having written some very decent books, but this is not one of them. The title alone is provocative and puts off any sense of reasonable debate. His appearances on talk shows discussing the theme of his book are really somewhat offensive. He could have published a more serious look at where he would like the country to go under his leadership if he were to make it to the White House in 2012.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who seems to be more in the news every day than our current president, already has one best selling book Going Rogue: An American Life and is coming out with a new title America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag. If one is looking for the most active Republican in the country these days they should look no further than the former GOP Vice-Presidential candidate. While pundits speculate on her future she is making her future known every day by supporting congressional candidates like Rand Paul, the GOP primary winner in Kentucky yesterday. She is running hard to be taken seriously by voters she hopes will propel her to the Oval Office in January, 2013.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney also has a book out called No Apology: The Case for American Greatness which seems more thoughtful than Gingrich's book and gives an overview of what programs and policies he might pursue if he were to be elected America's 45th president in 2012.
Former Arkansas Governor and current TV show host Mike Huckabee is the only one of the possible candidates who's written a book on Christmas called A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit, in addition to several other books.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who is working hard to contain the terrible oil slick threatening his state every day has a book coming out this summer called Real Hope, Real Change: Conservative Solutions To Rescue America. Let's hope the book discusses his views on the future of offshore oil drilling.
Some pundits have discussed former congressman and current MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough as a possibility to run for president in 2012. And, yes he already has a book out on the future of conservatism that should be available soon in paperback called The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise.
Who else is being mentioned in these early days of the 2012 presidential campaign on the Republican side: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour; Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels who is touted as a true fiscal conservative; Virginia's new governor Bob McDonnell and New Jersey's recently elected governor Chris Christie.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has announced he has a book deal and U.S. Senator Scott Brown will be writing his memoirs soon.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, former Senator Rick Santorum and current Senator John Thune of South Dakota are also names being mentioned as Republican possibilities to run for president in 2012. General David Petreaus has also been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate but no one is certain of his political affiliation.
And we all know the candidate running in 2012 with two popular books is none other than the current President Barack Obama with the best sellers The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance to his credit.
If we see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or retiring Senator Evan Bayh or any other leading Democrat come out with a book in the next year we can safely assume they may be thinking of challenging Obama. We will most likely see another book from Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, two politicians who seem to enjoy running for president with absolutely no chance of ever winning.
If they are writing then the odds are good that they are running. The next president of the United States, we can safely predict, will have written a book in the next year and if he or she wins the Oval Office their book will become a best seller.