Alex Brandon/Associated Press Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
It’s been nearly four months since the day after the 2010 midterm elections — otherwise known as the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential campaign — but still, not one Republican candidate.
Sure, there are “hopefuls” and “those who are considering making a bid.” There are people with PACs, and some have hired a few staff members. But with the click ticking toward the first Republican presidential debate in 66 days, there seems to be a reluctance among potential candidates to make it official.
By this time four years ago, Senator John McCain of Arizona had already begun opening campaign offices around the country, had multiple consultants on retainer and was just days away from the official, glitzy relaunch of the Straight Talk Express.
(Of course, all that spending eventually doomed version 1.0 of his campaign; it wasn’t until he ditched all of that and headed to New Hampshire that the campaign took off again.)
By March 1, 2007, Fox News was already reporting on Senator Barack Obama‘s connection to the reverend Jeremiah Wright. (Mr. Wright appeared on the Sean Hannity show that evening.)
At that point, Mr. Obama had been an official candidate for president for weeks, having stood in the town square in Springfield on a cold day in early February and declared, “I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.”
Of course, Mr. Obama’s big announcement was preceded by the words “I’m in,” which appeared on the Web site for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York on Jan. 20, 2007. “And I’m in to win,” she wrote. No being coy for her.
It’s all a striking — and, for political reporters — somewhat distressing contrast to the current situation, in which playing coy seems to be the name of the game.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is probably running, but declines to say so. Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, is busy with his state’s budget problems, so he has an excuse for not making a decision.
Likewise for Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. But there’s no such excuse for Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, who teases with Web videos, Facebook posts and a few staffers, but has left everyone guessing whether or not she is going to run.
Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, still works for the current administration as the ambassador to China (though he has formally handed in his resignation.) No word from him in any official way, though his people love to leave little hints.
The latest? A Web site for the Horizon PAC, with a big letter “H” as the logo. That stands for Horizon, they insist.
Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is taking his good old time deciding whether to make another run. He had “tea” with reporters in Washington this week, but says he’s in no rush to jump in early like he did the last time around. He told ABC that “it’s not always smart to be the first guy out of the corral and out there in the arena riding around on your pony by yourself.” On “Morning Joe” on Friday, he defended his reluctance, saying, “I’m not going to make this decision impulsively,” and added that he might not make a decision until sometime in the summer.
A few people have made a decision not to run. Senator John Thune of South Dakota announced on his Facebook page (naturally) that he’s determined that he can do more good in the Senate. Representative Mike Pence of Indiana appears to have his eye on statewide office rather than the presidency, and so he took himself out, too.
But the lack of those getting in officially — the only Republican to have formed a presidential exploratory committee is Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza — just means there is more room for people to “express interest.” Thus Donald Trump, the real estate mogul, sweeps into the Conservative Political Action Conference this month as he is “considering” a run. And Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a 2008 contender, happily notes to any interviewer who asks that he’s thinking about it, too. And the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has flirted with the idea of running before, has said he will make a decision within the next several weeks.
One potential candidate who seems to be clearly headed for a run is Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is hardly trying to hide his intentions — though he, too, has not made anything official.
Just this week, Mr. Pawlenty released a snazzy, fast-paced Web video offering his support for Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, who is waging a battle with public employees unions in his state.
The video (see below) scarcely has Mr. Pawlenty’s picture in it (until the end), but is clearly an effort to curry favor with Mr. Walker down the road.
And Mr. Pawlenty is making no secret of his desire to snatch up Tea Party support wherever he can find it. On Saturday, he will be the keynote speaker for a Tea Party conference in Phoenix.
“Governor Pawlenty will thank the Tea Party movement for their energy and passion, and give them well deserved credit for this fall’s victories,” an adviser to Mr. Pawlenty said. “The Tea Party’s efforts resulted in Nancy Pelosi losing the speaker’s gavel, and electing Republican leaders like Governors Walker, Kasich and Haley.”
The adviser added: “The Tea Party is concerned with holding a line on taxes and spending, and restoring limited government — all priorities for Governor Pawlenty. The Governor will reiterate his call to hold the line on the debt ceiling, repeal Obamacare and stand up to public employees’ unions. He’ll talk about his record of conservative success in a liberal state like Minnesota, and share stories about cutting spending and taxes, and standing up to public employees unions.”
That’s fine. But we political reporters are tired of adding “potential” or “possible” or “hopefuls” when writing about the 2012 race, so maybe he could just go ahead and announce he’s running.