“He thinks his family would be on board. ‘I’m taking a very full look at it,’ he says. And why not. The Republican field is wide open. And Obama is vulnerable.”
Thune gets a high-level endorsement, from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
“I think he’s the complete package and is the kind of person who could conceivably go the distance in a race for the presidency,” McConnell told Hayes. “I think he’s an extraordinary talent, and I hope that he will run and win.’”
Hayes adds that Thune faces “many obstacles”: “He has virtually no national profile. He worked briefly as a lobbyist. He voted for TARP. He is a defender of earmarks. He would be running against Washington from Washington. … Despite his proximity to those who craft the Republican agenda, Thune does not have a signature issue—something Thune skeptics point to as a liability for a potential presidential candidate.”
In other words, in an arena with Huckabee's religious baggage, Romney's religious, social, and economic baggage as Massachusetts' Mormon Governor, and the looming specter of Sarah Palin, John Thune emerges as "the kinda harmless, not-crazy one".
He will go far with that. That is, right up until the Tea Party demands he chug the hard-core right-wing Purple Drank. The reality is unless Thune goes full Birther lunatic fringe, he'll never advance past the primary. And if he does, he'll never win the general.
A Thune/Palin ticket however might be the compromise he's looking for...but I don't ever see Sarah Palin playing second fiddle again.
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