Confession: I am a political junkie. I will follow any election race, anywhere just for the heck of it because it is a fun thing to do.
Right now I'm following the Republicans' attempts to try to find a candidate who will take on Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential election. With the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary now just a month away, things have really heated up.
It has been a bumbling race so far, to say the least. To sum up where things stand, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is a main frontrunner and seems to be the only one of the bunch who stands a shot at getting elected against Obama. That's what the polls say. However, the polls are showing clearly that many rank and file Republicans don't want him. They think he's too moderate and that his health care policies in Massachusetts were too much like Obama's hated national health care plan that was passed.
So they don't trust Romney and would rather have someone else; that much is clear. The problem is the right-leaning Republicans, and in particular the hard-line Tea Party faction, can't make a decision to save their lives.
The scenario usually plays out in typical fashion: they start getting excited over one of the candidates, that contender sees a big surge in support and campaign contributions, and then inevitably something goes wrong, the wheels start falling off and that campaign ends up on the scrapheap. The pack then moves on to the next contender, only for the scenario to repeat itself.
First, there was a surge for Rep. Michele Bachmann early in the campaign. She entered the race and immediately got attention from the Tea Partiers and others who like her no-holds-barred conservative approach. She ended up winning the Iowa Straw Poll, which means nothing in terms of delegates but is usually a good test of strength.
But then she was quoted in the press saying nutty things about all kinds of subjects - the ill-effects of the HPV vaccine, as one example. Then out came a Newsweek cover that made her look, ahem, unflattering to say the least.
Republican voters concluded Bachmann had too narrow an agenda and was just too loose a cannon to be president. The pack moved on.
Next, Republicans got excited about Texas governor Rick Perry, who looked like he could be a formidable opponent. The initial polls saw him surge to frontrunner status, alongside Romney.
But the nation quickly found out Perry cannot punch his way out of a paper bag in a televised debate. He's put in some spectacularly lousy performances, including an on-air gaffe on CNBC when he called for three federal departments to be eliminated - only to forget the name of one of them on live TV. "Oops."
You cannot expect to be taken seriously as a candidate if you look like an amateur on stage during a presidential debate. So much for Rick Perry, then, and his campaign.
Next, the "pack" decided they liked Herman Cain, the Godfather's Pizza magnate, who was getting a lot of attention for his flat-tax ideas. He beat Perry in the Florida straw poll, aiding his surge to the front.
No sooner did he spike in the polls than reports of allegations of sexual harassment and "settlements" with female ex-employees came to light.
So much for Cain. It was back to the drawing board.
Now the "pack" has moved on yet again. The latest to get attention is former House speaker Newt Gingrich. I get the feeling the only reason Gingrich is surging in polls is because everyone else has self-destructed.
The problem with Gingrich is he has all kinds of personal skeletons in his closet, too -his marital woes, a reputation for meanness, and so on. Already we are seeing negative stories circulating about him, so I don't know if the "pack" will stick with Gingrich, either.
The problem is there seems to be no one left for the "pack" to back if Gingrich goes belly-up like these others. I don't see these Republicans going to Rick Santorum, who seems more likely a nominee for vice-president than president. Jon Huntsman seems too much of a moderate. Of course, there's the libertarian-minded Ron Paul, who has plenty of supporters in his own right, but his unconventional ideas aren't what this Republican "pack" is looking for, either.
This "pack" is big on God and country, and on getting rid of Obamacare and cutting the budget and increasing the homeland security, and doing all kinds of socially conservative things such as ridding the country of abortion.
This is a highly charged, partisan crowd, energized by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other talk radio hosts, who are absolutely focused on trying to find some ideologically pure standard bearer for the Republicans.
But I also get the distinct sense these voters want a nominee capable of winning the election. They clearly are yearning for someone who will lead them to glory and be the next Ronald Reagan.
That's why you haven't seen a consensus emerge in Republican ranks. None of these contenders are the next Reagan, and Republicans know it. This assorted collection of characters are either too far out or have too many skeletons in the closet, or are no good at debating, or aren't conservative enough, or have something else apparently wrong with them.
That's why no one has run away with this race. Die-hard Republicans aren't fools; as much as they want someone with the values they desire, they know that to win the election they need someone who will go toe-to-toe with Obama. Finding the "right" person is proving to be no end of trouble.
