If former UN Ambassador John Bolton runs for president then I think Rep. Pete King’s candidacy would be redundant. I suspect Rick Santorum will run for a couple of reasons. First, he has nothing else to do. Second, the GOP has a history of nominating the guy who came in second the last time around. They did with Poppy in 1988, Dole in 1996, McCain in 2008, and Romney in 2012. It seems like a stupid strategy, since there is a reason they rejected the candidate the first time, but it gives Santorum a reason to hope that he could actually be the nominee. John Boehner is pushing for Jeb Bush, but Barbara is opposed to the idea. If Jeb doesn’t run and Christie is too damaged to make a go of it, then the field is really wide open. I have no idea who the money guys have in mind. I can’t imagine it’s Paul Ryan, although it could come to that. I think they need an Eisenhower, but we don’t have any of those right now.
I suspect that there will be some more token candidates in the Herman Cain-Michele Bachmann mode, and Rand Paul will probably make a run despite his serial plagiarism (because, standards? what standards?).
Which of the governors will run? Rick Perry? Bobby Jindal? Will they even waste their time?
And who will be running (essentially) for vice-president? Or to set themselves up for 2020?
