An Ode to the Non-Candidacy of John Thune
O John Thune, John Thune, where art thou?
He’s comfortably ensconced in Hill office SD-511, of course, going about his daily duties as the Republican senator from South Dakota.
He’s not on the campaign trail for president of the United States.
Too bad for the GOP.
Even back when the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls was filling a debate stage end-to-end, my answer was the same when asked which one I thought could beat Obama in November: “The guy who’s not running.”
Thune pushed back early against presidential speculation, announcing in February 2011 that he wouldn’t seek the Oval Office this year.
That undoubtedly evoked a bigger sigh of relief from the Democrats’ campaign operation than when Mitt Romney said he didn’t care about the very poor. In July 2010, DNC Executive Director Jennifer O’Malley Dillon told the Huffington Post that there was just one prospective Republican candidate who scared her, and he was never a Pennsylvania senator.
“This is personal but John Thune is somebody that I have nightmares about,” she said. “I’ve worked for Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle and he is just a guy you can’t ever count out. He has his head down and is doing some policy stuff. [You] just got to start looking at him.”
Daschle, of course, was Senate minority leader when Thune beat him in the 2004 elections. It marked the first time since 1952 that a Senate party leader lost his seat. Six years later, no Republicans or Democrats challenged Thune for re-election.
Yep, Thune does look like he could be carved into Mount Rushmore tomorrow. But the Republican Conference chairman also comes without a lot of baggage. He’s kept his head down, in semi-obscurity and scandal-free, not prone to letting loose with soundbites that can be used as political weapons.
He’s a Washington insider just at the point the Republican Party needs someone who knows how the system works to beat it. He’s cool and measured during debates and could handily challenge Obama point for point. He’s a born fundraiser. He’s the candidate for the antithetical voters who say that Obama must be unseated in the most important election of our lifetime, then rate ideological purity over a candidate’s electability. On second thought, some of them would still find fault with Thune, but consider the voters you must secure to win a presidential election who would find no fault with the fact that Thune’s PAC didn’t give to Joe Miller for Senate.
Let’s not even take into account my informal polling of liberal friends who swoon at the sight of the senator. One such friend, a journalist and Obama voter who also has a burning crush on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said approvingly of Thune, “Mmm-hmm. … I’d vote for him. Mmmm-hmm.” Acknowledge that a lot of the electorate isn’t that deep, but put forth a candidate with the goods to back up the pretty face.
I’m meh on all of those running, but the point is to get the out and out marxist away from the Oval Office.
I’m pretty much in the same boat…I was a Cainiac.
I’ll be vigorously supporting whomever the nominee is.
The first thing any politician needs name and face recognition. I follow politics regularly and, while I certainly know his name, I could not pick Senator Thune out of a line-up to save my life. I’ll bet 98% of my fellow citizens can’t name the Republican Senator from South Dakota.
Second, anyone who ever became President wanted the job and was willing to do what was necessary to get it. This struck home many years ago when I met Jack Kemp coming through an Iowa bowling alley in February. My only thought was, “Who in their right mind wants to be President bad enough to do this?” Whatever they lack, Mitt, Newt and Rick Santorum each wants to be President enough to endure what seems an endless campaign.
I don’t doubt John Thune is an intelligent, personable and articulate South Dakotan, who would do much better in the White House than its current occupant. (This is called damning with faint praise.) However, we really can’t be certain because the Senator, like Governors Daniels and Bush, for example, doesn’t have the desire and drive to throw his hat into the race. Not that I really blame him.
Well, this is the thing, isn’t it? We had plenty of great candidates to run against Obama, but none of them had the guts to throw their hat in the ring.
He stayed under the porch with Jindal, Daniels, and the rest.
He who dares wins.
John Thune is an A Teamer. Has been on my list all along.
I do NOT believe, however, that Mitch Daniels or Paul Ryan would lose to Obama. Paired with Rubio, they would wipe the floor with the dyspeptic duo.
The small c communists need to be rooted out of every nook and cranny.
We ARE going to a brokered convention. Even Rick Santorum thinks so.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/03/12/team-santorum-were-aiming-for-a-brokered-convention/
Not being part of this circus act obviously showed wisdom…which is why all the A Teamers decided not to play in this cesspool. (other than Pawlenty, who got out quickly)
I would take a Thune/Rubio; Ryan/Rubio; Daniels/Rubio…three month campaign…all A Teamers…and take my chances. Have Kristi Noem, Alan West, Haley Barbour, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Susana Martinez…dominate the stage for three months with the above guys…and let’s blow away the competition in a landslide.
Mitch Daniels could never beat Obama.
He has a physical handicap:
He’s too short.
Daniels is only 5’6″ tall. In those October debates with Obama (who is 6’1″), Daniels would look like a dwarf. And voters aren’t going to elect a dwarf to be Commander-in-Chief. Could you picture President Daniels meeting with U.S. Special Forces guys, and not even coming up to their shoulders in height?
In fact, Daniels is 5 inches shorter than Michelle Obama.
What really is the point of this article? Thune isn’t running, so why cry of something that isn’t going to be? And we had A LOT of good candidates, like Tim Pawlenty or Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry, but people just didn’t seem to like them that much. Any of those are just as good as Thune, but they didn’t make it. We need to stop crying about the people who are not in this race (such as Christie, Thune, Daniels, etc.) and start pumping up the people who ARE in this race. As the Marines used to say, “What we have is what we got,” and this is what we’ve got. After all, this is what the PEOPLE chose in the primaries, so if you have a bone to pick about the choices, tell it to the people who voted for them. Aside from that, I still think the group of Republicans we have can still beat Obama in November, given the lousy shape of the nation.
– after the first ballot, under the convention rules, won’t the delegates be released so as to broker their votes?
I am pretty sure it is after three rounds of votes that the bound delegates are released.
He would surely carry South Dakota, and he’s handsome, so he could compete for the women’s vote.
Idon’t know anything about Thune. I like General Patraeus also and think he could beat obama..I think that beating Obama should be foremost in choosing a cAndidate.
FOIA Gallery 2012 In recognition of Sunshine Week March 12-16, 2012
http://epic.org/open_gov/foiagallery2012.html
Scandal free? Try googling John Thune, Dan Nelson and Jeff Gannon.
While there are several great potential candidates who are not running, we have to pick from the available choices. Many of them are probably making plans for future races.
Ridiculous column..You would base the GOP choice upon something an executive director of the DNC said…and an “mmm-hmmm” response from someone who bases ther choice for leader of the free world by a candidates looks??
What have we come to when the pathetic parameters reflected in this piece are considered cause for consideration particularly in these troubled times. This certainly reflects the dumbing down of coherent thought and I propose Ms Johnson spend less time with Democrats and understand this is not People Magazine!
We will have a candidate from those in the GOP primary race and to say otherwise is nothing more than a page from Obama’s play book to create havoc in the GOP race.
Hmmm. I guess it fits. A filler article about a filler politician.
DNC Executive Director Jennifer O’Malley Dillon told the Huffington Post that there was just one prospective Republican candidate who scared her, and he was never a Pennsylvania senator. “This is personal but John Thune is somebody that I have nightmares about,” she said. “I’ve worked for Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle and he is just a guy you can’t ever count out. He has his head down and is doing some policy stuff. [You] just got to start looking at him.”
Well…I don’t know anything about John Thune, but that endorsement would make me consider voting against him. This reminds me of the “leak” that Holder (or someone like him) let slip about Huntsman. It just sounds bogus to me.
I think John Thune would do a great job. He knows the issues, he’s articulate. I don’t think it wasn’t that he wouldn’t run, I think the RNC decided it was Mitt’s “turn” and may be saving Thune for later (or not). This is what gets the RNC in trouble — it should never be anyone’s “turn”. They should have put all their good candidates on the block and let WE THE PEOPLE chose. Maybe they just like picking losers.