No matter who wins the presidential election, the Republicans have no standard-bearer for 2008. With this in mind, the positioning for the next presidential race has already begun. (If we’re all really lucky, for the first time since 1972, we might actually get a GOP ticket that doesn’t feature someone named Bush or Dole. Won’t that be a treat for us all…)
Most of the potential candidates — Giuliani, Pataki, Hagel, Owens, Romney, Frist — tripped over each other at last week’s GOP convention, parading themselves in front of delegates from Iowa and New Hampshire in the hopes of generating some very early excitement.
But I’d like to point out that the U.S. Senate’s least impressive and most frightening member — Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum — is already looking for a promotion, preparing to either run for Majority Leader in ’06, President in ’08, or both.
Santorum acknowledged he is approaching a professional crossroads and that he will have to make a life-shaping decision that will force him to weigh any national ambitions against his Senate leadership objectives, all the while gearing up for his own re-election bid in 2006.
“I can’t say I never talk about it, because everybody asks me, not because I am sitting here doing any kind of real essential planning,” said Santorum, speaking about a possible presidential bid in an interview last week. “Ultimately, I look at it as a decision that I have to, first, make it through an election cycle and beyond that, how can I best serve the people of Pennsylvania and my country?”
It’s a scary thought, to say the least.
I’ve envisioned a scenario in which Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) could take on Santorum for his Senate seat in two years, beat him soundly, and watch Santorum slink off to K Street to make millions as a lobbyist. Santorum, however, feels confident that he will not only get elected to a third term, but that he’ll be free to seek the presidency in ’08.
Would the Republican Party actually have the gall to nominate a right-wing reactionary like Santorum for president? Of course it would. The far right has already taken over the party; it only makes sense the GOP would look to the Senate’s most conservative member to lead the party into the next decade.
The party’s centrist wing (which appears to include about four people nationwide) doesn’t seem fond of the idea.
Still, even some people in his own party express disdain for the Pennsylvania Senator for his fervent stand on social issues such as abortion and, most recently, his very public support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
The gay and lesbian GOP advocacy group, the Log Cabin Republicans, began running a commercial last week that condemned Republicans who advocate socially conservative causes such as imposing a federal ban on gay marriage. Among the faces the group flashed across the screen as examples of Republicans who they charge are dividing the party were Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell and Santorum.
“I think that Rick Santorum is the face of exclusion and intolerance,” Chris Barron, political director for the Log Cabin Republicans, said in an interview. “I think that if we are going to maintain our status as the majority party in this country then we can’t be led by folks like Rick Santorum.”
Of course, one need look no further than this year’s GOP platform to see how much influence the Log Cabin Republicans have in their party.
And what would a Santorum presidency look like? Well, if you thought Bush has a problem separating theology from his policy positions, Santorum would take that approach to a whole new level.
“If you want to know how Rick Santorum is going to look at things, a good first place to start would be looking at his faith and how he viewed these things,” said Santorum.
His faith, by the way, includes frequent appearances on TV preacher Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” and leads him to believe there’s “no such thing” as the separation of church and state.
President Santorum? Be afraid.