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Barbour in 2012?
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One governor’s sex scandal is another's big opportunity. With Mark Sanford besmirched, Mississippi’s Haley Barbour is poised for a run in 2012. But will the powerful Republican’s murky past get in the way of his—and the party’s—future?
If there’s hand-wringing in Columbia, South Carolina, over Governor Mark Sanford’s affair, there may be some back-slapping 600 miles west in Jackson, Mississippi. That’s because the state capital is the home to the man most likely to profit from Sanford’s downfall—Governor Haley Barbour.
Not that Barbour has actually been home much these days. There he was on Monday, dining with Republican strategists in Washington at the Caucus Room, a restaurant that he happens to co-own. On Wednesday, the Mississippi governor swung up to New Hampshire. It was there, while raising cash for the state Republican Party, that Barbour heard the news about Sanford. And where’s a governor to go after hosting a fundraiser in the Granite State? Iowa, naturally, another state known for its crucial early role in presidential campaigns.
Barbour’s success as a lobbyist and fundraiser has earned him a place at the head of the GOP table—but could come back to haunt him as a presidential candidate.
Hang out in these states long enough and people will start whispering about your intentions for 2012. One confidante told CNN this week, "I think Haley is probably like a lot of other governors and senators who think, “I could be that guy or gal who could lead the party,' and it may be that Haley is the person…" A Republican operative told The Washington Post earlier this month: “Here's Haley Barbour making some 2012 moves. When you start going to Iowa and New Hampshire, the writing's on the wall." (Barbour performed the normal second move of this two-step by telling reporters in New Hampshire that he’d “probably never” decide to run for the nation’s highest office.)
Sanford’s meltdown resulted in a major uptick in Barbour’s national profile by placing the Mississippian in charge of the Republican Governors Association a year ahead of schedule. Now Barbour, according to political analyst Marc Ambinder, is in competition with former Massachusetts governor and erstwhile presidential candidate Mitt Romney as “the most powerful Republican in politics.” Indeed, it was Romney’s position as the head of the association in 2006 that allowed him to boost his own national profile in preparation for his presidential run.
But is Haley Barbour the right figure for the Republican future?
He certainly carries with him a great deal of the party’s past. The 61-year-old lawyer served as a political director of the Reagan White House. He co-founded a heavyweight Washington lobbying firm, which thrived during the Clinton years, and then rose to prominence as the chairman of the Republican National Committee, helping tip Congress toward the Republicans in the 1994 midterm elections. In 2004, he was elected governor of the Magnolia State.
But more than anything, it has been Barbour’s success as a lobbyist and fundraiser that has earned him a place at the head of the GOP table—and which could come back to haunt him as a presidential candidate.
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Oh, DO. Yes, let the Republican Party nominate Boss Hogg, see where it gets them. Might as well throw Michelle Bachmann in as VP for grins, you know? In for a penny, in for a pound.
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Cool, Boss Hogg is going to run for president. Oh, I know we could get Roscoe to be his vice president, and Ennis could be Secretary of State. Then instead of chasing terrorists he could spend all of his tima chasing down those pesky Duke boys.
Haley Barbour / David Duke in 2012?
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Would you have made the same type of comment about a black person? Seems like the same kind of stereotyping that would get you strung up.
Is this priceless, or what? Haley Barbour. Ol' Haley. Yowza, yowza, have a cigar!
Could there be any more of a Republican stereotype on the face of the friggin' earth? White, heavy, Southern, a fund raiser & lobbyist, and a history of pushing Miss. legislation aimed at welfare recipients and minorities.
That's the Republican party in a nutshell, folks. That's what they want to lead the country. He'll get the Slave State vote for sure.
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Hey, I live in one of the Slave States. And you just called him a sack-o-mud, an obvious euphemism for sack-o-something else.
And in your first post, the word is spelled "moron", not "maroon", which is a color.
If any of the GOP dumb-asses think anybody below the Mason-Dixon line is going to be elected president,by all means let this nitwit run. I will gladly witness yet another GOP ass-kicking.
How to end the Republican party for good....Haley Barbour!
Amen to most of the above. Barbour should relax and have an eclair. We aren't going to be electing any morbidly obese prestdents in the near future.
The Republicans already have one fatty running for president. Mike Huckaby on Jon Stewart last week was as broad as the side of a barn.
Just what the Repugs need, another fat, crooked guy with a southern drawl . Oh, how about running Mark Sanford for VP?
Can't we all just agree that the Republicans have NOBODY south of the Mason-Dixon line who should be running for President?
Are you kidding?
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Because Barbour reassumed the chair he had only recently given up to Sanford and because a very accomplished lobbiest is out raising money for the GOP like he has done very effectively for years, the pundits get all a twitter about 2012. Barbour rebuilt the GOP in the 90s as RNC chairman. Now I never really figured out why he left a highly successful, very lucrative lobbying firm that he owned to come back to be the Governor of Mississippi unless he did have national ambitions but like you said, he would not only have Bush legacy to overcome as he was highly instrumental in installing Bush in the WH but as the above comments indicate he would have to overcome the stigma of being from Mississippi and many years of being a D C lobbiest. Of course, the Abamoff scandal is also out there but it doesn't seem to hurt the multiple members of congress who were likewise involved.
Just for the record Barbour has wide support in the African American community in Mississippi and I won't out him on some of his highly liberal achievements within the state as the far-right would not approve, but he is both shrewd and pragmatic so I would be highly surprised to see him run. No one is more aware of the negatives than he is. Barbour is no Palin.
OH PLEASE PLEASE,let this porky run for prez or waddle either one,we thought mcsame-palin was funny,porky and any repub would be hilarius,unfortunately itll be mitt romney and pawlenty....there campain slogan will be good n pawlenty...
I'm praying this Governor Hee Haw is the GOP 2012 presidential candidate.
I must say you folks are very amusing. I enjoyed all your comments and will come back for more. As for 2012, I don't see Barbour on the ticket. Not pure enough for primary voters.
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Liberal09 you are clearly a republican troll.
If you are not knock off the ALL CAPS, KKK refences and profanity please.
How much is Barbour paying the Daily Beast these days? First McKinnon's piece, now this?
at least it's mississippi that the media will mock, not alabama.
what a wonderful, well-written, informative article!
Thank you.
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