Marc Ambinder believes he’s found the GOP dark horse candidate for 2012: conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. His thought process:
DeMint, in this scenario, would run as a spoiler/insurgent candidate in 2012, setting himself up for a full-on presidential run in 2016. DeMint, running in 2012, would knock Sarah Palin out of the primaries, crushing any momentum she received out of Iowa … even though DeMint would be the obvious homestate favorite, Palin needs a victory in South Carolina to acquire momentum for later contests in larger states with less conservative electorates. (It’s not that South Carolina is less conservative, it’s that it’s seen as part of the process.) Anyway, if Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty wanted help, they could find a way to…persuade DeMint to run a spoiler’s campaign in Iowa and South Carolina…and then find an elegant way to drop out…positioning himself perhaps as a vice presidential candidate (obsessed with spending and the deficit, well-made to make sure that Southern white voters turn out, balancing the ticket).
