Why I Want To Be Your President: Republican Round-Up

With all the emphasis on Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich this week, let’s see what everyone else was up to.

If you believe the media, Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is getting a second look. Seemingly, he will also be formally announcing his run for the 2012 Republican nomination on Monday. He will announce in Des Moines, Iowa.

Proving that "Minnesota nice" can be an acquired taste, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty is getting a new and apparently approving look by GOP establishment and conservative leaders now that others in his lane like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee have rejected running and Newt Gingrich has stumbled out of the gate.

And for those disappointed by Barbour and Huckabee, Pawlenty could be the choice should Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who's laboring over running for the GOP presidential nomination, become the third prominent Republican to skip the 2012 race.

Says one conservative publisher: "I think a lot of people are giving Pawlenty a good first look or a critical second look now. And you know, when you spend some time with him, he comes off really well." 

Love the idea of these guys (and gals) announcing in a state where gay marriage is legal.

The Atlantic is telling me Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is the Tea Party’s “dream candidate.”

Put another way, today's conservative entertainers are selling out their professed beliefs for an emotional high and a ratings boost -- and perhaps with the realization that effective conservative governance, achieved without intellectually dishonest bombast, is an implicit repudiation of their whole worldview. Tea partiers, many of whom revere talk radio, are being misled into thinking that Daniels isn't a desirable conservative candidate. If they are earnest in what they say about America's fiscal situation, however, a Daniels Administration is the best triumph for which they can reasonably hope.

Funny. Just last year he was calling on a truce on social issues.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has been sparring publicly with the last Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain.  He seems to have forgotten the good Senator spent some time as a prisoner of war.

In a radio interview this afternoon, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum tried to end the back-and-forth between him and GOP Sen. John McCain over so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.

Calling from an Amtrak train headed to his next campaign stop, Santorum told conservative radio host Steve Malzberg that he respects McCain’s opinion on the issue, but remains convinced those interrogation methods are effective in obtaining information from high value detainees.

"I feel nothing ill towards John McCain," Santorum said. "I respect his opinion. But I think he's wrong."

The spat between the two men when McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, penned a Washington Post op-ed arguing that Osama bin Laden’s death can’t be traced to waterboarding or other forms of torture to get information from terror suspects. McCain later took to the Senate floor and, in an impassioned speech, argued against the abusing prisoners to siphon intelligence.

"In my personal experience, the abuse of prisoners sometimes produces good intelligence, but often produces bad intelligence," McCain said. "Under torture a person will say anything he thinks his captors want to hear -- whether it is true or false -- if he believes it will relieve his suffering."

That drew a response from Santorum, who said on Hugh Hewitt's radio program that McCain did not "understand how enhanced interrogation works."

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann may be in:

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is likely to formally announce her presidential candidacy in Des Moines next week, the Polk County chairman of the Republican Party says.

Bachmann is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a fund-raising dinner for the party Thursday evening. Kevin McLaughlin, the party’s county chairman, said there is a good chance she will make her announcement there. He said the event, at the downtown Marriott Hotel, will provide an interesting alternative for Republicans who were disappointed by Thursday’s news that New York billionaire Donald Trump was canceling a dinner speech he’d been scheduled to give in Des Moines June 10.

Should make for some fun talk this weekend.

And former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman gave an interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Good read. He. Ain’t. Going. No. Where.

Donald Trump fired himself, and won’t even keep his previously promised engagements. Mike Huckabee is sticking with television. He did start out his career in radio, once upon time.

And if you have not had enough of Newt, then here, here, here and here. Some good tidbits, actually. Especially good is the “Dancing Queen” Ringtone story.

Enjoy the weekend! Rapture, and all!