The Royal Rumble

[Loss]

The hype has begun for the 2012 Royal Rumble! Just this week, Newt Gingrich threw his hat in. He is attempting to present himself as a babyface, but fans remember the angle where he joined Callista more than he'd like. Santorum is just there to improve the workrate, and it's clear the GOP wants to push Mitt Romney as the top star. But I'm not sure why Romney is waiting so long to make his entrance official.

 

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin may set out to become the first intergender champion, although she's making so much money working indies that it may not be worth her time. Not to mention that during her time in the indies, she really hasn't improved her skills that much.

 

Ron Paul is forever the big draw that the GOP refuses to push.

 

Regardless of who wins the Royal Rumble, I suspect they will have a hard time defeating the reigning champion Barack Obama, although quite a bit can happen between now and then I suppose.

[CodySave]

Don't forget Donald Trump, who went from legitimately polling well as a potential Repub candidate to dropping to massive approval lows in the span of a week, thanks to Obama and SNL's Seth Myers using the help of Hulkamania to shoot down Trump's claims.

 

I think Ron Paul has a better chance so far compared to the last election thanks in part to familiarity from before and the fact that compared to the rest of the field, he seems much less cartoonish/realistic than the other options.

 

It's wild to me that given how many people are supposedly displeased with the results of Obama in office the past two years that the Republicans can't even get their act together to enough to field a legitimate challenger with wide appeal.

 

I don't pretend to follow national politics super closely, but I'm an Iowan that follows local news and there's always tons of presidential coverage. It seems to me that the possible Republican contenders right now are:

 

- staunch "Tea Party" types (Bachmann, Palin, etc.)

- Newt Gringrich (who, based on his past, doesn't have the support of "conservative Christian"-types)

- Ron Paul (who appears to be the Republican Party's example of "Christian" - not the religion, but the wrestler; known for his workrate, popular amongst hardcore fans but not considered an option by Conservative power figures)

- Mitt Romney, who started hot last election but fell out before the primary

- Rick Santorum, who I admittedly know little about and I'm guessing the general public doesn't either

- Donald Trump, who is No. 1 and 2 with Palin as the two people that have garnered the most attention amongst your average TV-viewing Americans as a possible choice.

 

Is this it right now?

 

I've also heard rumblings that Rand Paul, Ron's son, could be a big-time player in the future and could actually get big-wig Conservative support that has eluded his father. He must be the Randy Orton to Ron's Bob.

[Loss]

Paul's problem is that he doesn't represent what the GOP power base wants at all. Many of the Republican pet initiative and special interest groups under a Ron Paul administration would be worse off than they would with a Democrat in the White House. Paul would go after the Pentagon and defense spending much more aggressively than anyone who is electable in either party would.

[Bob Morris]

As usual, Gary Johnson gets no respect, despite his entrance into the Rumble being made official. He's no doubt going to be the guy who gets no promos aired and is just there to be a quick elimination.