Jonathan Martin has a piece on GOP contenders maneuvering for the 2012 nomination. Already? I know. Before you click on that link, consider what Hayley Barbour tells Martin:
"Oh, man," drawled Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, when asked about 2012 and specifically his own interest in a possible presidential run. "I'm going to tell you something. One of the worst things that can happen to the Republican Party in our effort to rebuild is for a bunch of people to start running for president. Anybody harboring that ambition needs to squelch it until after 2010. … Anybody out there running for president is undercutting what's important. You do this against your own interest."
Patrick Ruffini echoes this sentiment and offers some constructive advice to anxious Republicans: focus on 2010 and rebuilding the party's infrastructure.
Barack Obama was not even mentioned as a potential candidate until October 2006. Mitt Romney, by far the most well-prepared of the early 2008 contenders, was defeated in Iowa by Mike Huckabee (who was accused of slacking on the early ground game) and in New Hampshire by John McCain (whose early organization got shredded). The hottest GOP contenders at this point in the last cycle were George Allen and Bill Frist. And all John McCain's early legwork got him was an excessive burn rate and campaign implosion, until he retooled into a leaner, meaner machine.
In October or November of 2007, few people would have predicted Barack Obama or John McCain as the nominees. If we can't predict three months out, what makes us think we can predict three and a half years out? [...]
So, I implore you, quit focusing on 2012, and focus on 2010 and on showing the Republican Party can rebuild at the state legislative, Congressional, and statewide levels in 2010. (That's where we're starting with Rebuild the Party.) Start blogging about potential candidates for Congress now. Even if we somehow manage to unseat Barack Obama in 2012, it won't mean very much if our ranks in the House and Senate remain decimated, and we've redistricted into oblivion until 2022.
To anyone who spent more than 30 seconds speculating about Bill Frist's or George Allen's presidential prospects, I feel sorry for you. But if this time around you waste time reading about Mike Huckabee's latest dinner in Iowa, well, you have no one to blame but yourself.
