So far the Republicans have been failing to come up with a candidate that could clearly win this election. One by one, we have seen candidates get, as Obama put it ,”sent off the island” as they first surge in popularity, and then take a huge fall from their pedestals. Michelle Bachmann’s former campaign manager Ed Rollins is bad mouthing her, saying she is “out of money and out of ideas”. Rick Perry, already low in popularity, really took a fall after his strange, overly giddy speech in Manchester New Hampshire went viral on YouTube. And now the previously front running Herman Cain is fighting off 3 allegations of sexual harassment. Mitt Romney is the only viable candidate left, and Republicans just don’t seem to like him that much. The “generic republican” is more popular than Mitt. Somehow the unfolding of these events seems almost scripted to me. Is it possible that somewhere in the Republican parties controlling forces, they are planning on bringing out a dark horse candidate near convention time? After all, everyone loves getting behind a dark horse – Obama was one in 2008. If they rallied around a popular Republican candidate at the last minute a huge amount of excitement would be generated. The name of the game any more in politics is theatrics and manipulation of the rather short term memory challenged American public. What better showmanship could there be than to offer up a candidate during the final countdown of the election year, giving the public little time to get sick and tired of the chosen one? Wouldn’t having something unexpected and dramatic be right in line with the reality TV theme that seems to be dominating the 2012 election cycle?
So who would this dark horse be? There were three possibilities of candidates who have not yet declared their intention to run mentioned in a Washington Post article : Mike Pence, Scott Brown and Marco Rubio. Out of these, I would pick Scott Brown. Although he has stated that he will not run in 2012, his election for the Senate in Massachusetts looks as if it may be a tough fight against Elizabeth Warren. There was plenty of buzz about Scott Brown running back in 2010, and there is even a Scott Brown for President Facebook page and a Scott Brown For President bumper sticker. He is young, athletic, good looking, and he is considered somewhat moderate – someone who independents would consider voting for. He used to be the darling of the Tea Party crowd, but he has fallen somewhat out of favor. He supported repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he was against eliminating all Planned Parenthood funding. In fact, it was reported by The Daily Beast in February of 2011 that Scott sided with Democrats as much as he sided with Republicans since he came to the hill. It seems to me that even if he doesn’t make the tea party crowd happy, he might be viewed by many disgruntled independents and disenfranchised Democrats as the perfect candidate.
Republicans must know that even if the tea party crowd doesn’t back such a moderate candidate, they will surely vote for him in the end rather than vote for Obama. Therefore, I am making a prediction that Scott Brown will emerge as a possible candidate somewhere around January, that the excitement around him will build until he announces that he will run sometime in March. If it isn’t him, I predict another dark horse will come out and beat default candidate Mitt Romney, who I don’t think is a serious contender. It will be interesting to see how events unfold.