Sen. Rand Paul most promising GOP candidate for election
The door may be slowly closing on the Republican Party's opportunity to take over the White House in 2012. As we saw from the 2010 midterm elections, the party's overall political message still resonates with voters, but the GOP's list of presidential hopefuls currently only consists of a handful of unofficial and unsuccessful candidates. Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin have all emerged as early favorites, but can they carry the spark needed to beat President Barack Obama? The answer is probably no.
The GOP, however, has viable candidates waiting in the wings. Both the behind-the-scenes players of the party and the American voters will have to decide if the young guns of the Republican Party are ready to be prime-time players.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is one of those rising stars who may be a viable GOP option for a run at the White House and has even made trip to the Palmetto State to test the waters.
Paul visited the College of Charleston recently to speak about top political issues.
While he has not officially announced an interest in being a presidential candidate, there is speculation that he will consider running if his father, Ron Paul, a Texas Republican who ran unsuccessfully in 2008, decides not to take another shot at the White House.
Can Rand Paul provide the spark necessary to knock off Obama in next year's election? He possesses many of the tools needed to do so, including name recognition and a central campaign message.
Paul also seems to have the charisma needed to run a successful campaign — he has recently been in the limelight promoting his book "The Tea Party Goes to Washington" in appearances on "The Daily Show" and "The Late Show With David Letterman." His proposed policies, particularly when it comes to his support for massive budget cuts, would energize many voters. However, some of his ideas, including the elimination of the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, could also prove to be polarizing.
Paul could easily sweep through the Republican primaries with his conservative message and his relatively clean political slate, but it seems likely that he would lose many centrist voters when facing Obama in a general election.
The president will have liberal voters on his side like he did in 2008, but Paul could pick up votes through the large anti-Obama sentiment that helped him win his Senate seat in 2010.
Right now though, it is Obama's race to lose if the Republicans are stuck with the same old faces from 2008. If a crafty and charismatic candidate with a clean slate can emerge for the GOP, then Obama may begin to feel a little more heat in the kitchen. The Obama staff is a very well-oiled machine, but it will be up to the voters to decide whether the president's record is solid enough to be rewarded with a second term.
More Like This
Column: Conservatives ignore history of diplomacy
By Dan Nelson | Jan. 24, 2016Column: Unpaid internships unfair for students
By Linden Atelsek | Jan. 18, 2016