Palin's "Fire in the Belly" - How Will She Fare If She Runs Again?

Now that Sarah Palin has revealed that she does indeed have the "fire in the belly" one would need to run for President in 2012 (though she has not yet said whether or not she is running) politicos from coast to coast will be re-analyzing the Republican field for the upcoming Presidential campaign.

Palin may have just indicated her willingness to wade into the fray currently populated by Republican stalwarts like Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich. How does the former Vice Presidential nominee compare to her new competitors four years after the failed McCain/Palin bid to take the White House?

Sadly, probably pretty well.

Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are, to put it delicately, somewhat aged. Gingrich, soon to be 68 years old, has not held political office in over a dozen years, rendering him a poor challenger in any political contest. Ron Paul, the tenacious U.S. Representative from Texas, is even older - a whopping 75 years old. Given all the flak the Dems lobbed at McCain in 2008 for his own advanced age (72) Ron Paul, a relatively minor candidate compared to the veteran Senator from Arizonian, would fare quite poorly in any matchup with the much-younger Obama, making him a poor nominee choice for Republicans.

Since Newt and Ron Paul are soon to be sidelined, Palin, a controversial figure who has remained steadily in the public eye since '08, easily trumps them. She would instantly be the second-place contestant behind Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts who has long been considered the Republican front-runner.

Not bad for the Fox News commentator and reality TV star - achieving an instant second-place status in a Republican contest that has plenty of room for political gameplay. With over a year to go before the Republican nominee is selected, Sarah Palin has ample opportunity to challenge Romney in a myriad of contests. Her outspoken style reminiscent of a daytime soap opera and her entertaining family (especially daughter Bristol) may help her handily out-salvo the staid Mormon from Massachusetts in any contest of media exposure.

If the saying "any publicity is good publicity" has even a hair of truth, Palin's second-place status as a pop-culture celeb may be enough to wage an even war against a veteran pol with executive and business chops like Romney.

And, of course, Republicans who may favor Romney over Palin will still have to consider how Romney and Palin would each fare against an incumbent Barack Obama. The staid Romney may not bring enough indignant outrage to any matchup with the former-wunderkind Democrat...but the outrageous Palin just might. In spite of all of her numerous disadvantages, the former Governor of Alaska may appeal to recession-afflicted voters who want to see someone take Obama to task for the weak economy.

Romney might hem and haw over landing verbal blows on the embattled incumbent, but Palin would probably let the metaphorical fists fly, bashing the man in the Oval Office on any- and everything.

So, Mitt: Watch out. Now that Sarah has comfortably asserted that she has "fire in her belly," you've got competition. Time to get outrageous.




SOURCE:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/palinon2012idohavethefireinmybelly;_ylt=ApUhrn05HI4p98wD1D4DevpsnwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJyaHJuZDNkBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNTIyL3VzMjAxMl9yZXB1YmxpY2FuX3RlbnNpb25zBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDNwRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNwYWxpbm9uMjAxMmk

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110520/pl_yblog_theticket/george-w-bush-racks-up-15-million-in-speaking-fees