The title is the nod to the extremely worldly (but alas extremely popular) movie, “Revenge of the Nerds”, but this may be the year of the nerd, dork, wonk, etc.  A friend advised me that DC is “Hollywood for ugly people” (a nod to yet another movie:  Because Washington is Hollywood for Ugly People) but regardless, The thing that Jindal, Ryan and Daniels bring to the table is an intense intellectual curiosity and a desire to solve problems. 

Cong. Ryan has a plan to get the nation out of debt and protect Medicare and Social Security.  Shawn Tully at Fortune has a useful synopsis of the plan and the man.  It’s not without some loss of benefits but that is part of the necessary sacrifice.  He wants to reform the tax system to have a choice – the regular tax return or a simplified tax return at either 10 or 25% with no deductions.  Even the CBO admits the Ryan plan will work.  But, Speaker Pelosi criticized it (Yes, that’s may be best evidence Ryan’s on the right track) as hurting the elderly:

Obama noted that Ryan had “made a serious proposal” to rein in the deficit and then praised him for at least addressing entitlement spending. Following those apparently peaceful words, Democrats launched a withering assault over the next three days as budget director Peter Orszag, Democratic Congressional Campaign chairman Chris Van Hollen, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi all pummeled Ryan for threatening the safety net for the elderly and providing tax breaks for the rich.

Ryan elected to take on the President at the Health Care Summit:

Ryan got his chance to confront the President at the health-care summit Feb. 25. Seated across from Obama, Ryan addressed him directly with a six-minute, numbers-laden, wonkish analysis of the Senate bill that contradicted the administration’s pledge that the plan wouldn’t add to the mountainous deficit.

Ryan correctly stated that the bill projects that Medicare will lower reimbursements to doctors by $371 billion over the next 10 years, yet Congress would cancel those cuts in a separate bill, all part of an attempt to mask the true size of future deficits through “gimmicks and smoke and mirrors.” Obama steered the discussion away from Ryan’s numbers, and the White House hasn’t challenged his analysis.

The nerdy fun seems to be spreading to candidates.  Rick Snyder is a GOP candidate for Governor of Michigan.  His “One Tough Nerd” ad drew chuckles but also increased his polling numbers from less than 1 percent to 12 percent.  RCP explains this in the nerds article:

Snyder has gone from political zero (polling at 3 percent) to a potential-nerd hero. The ad is one big reason. And this story gets nerdier.

The Michigan firm EPIC-MRA recently polled likely primary voters. Only the contenders’ names were first read. Snyder placed third among the GOP candidates, at 12 percent. Then pollsters read candidates brief biography. The Gateway geek rose 10 points and took second place. Among “strong Republicans,” Snyder’s biography moved him from third to first place.

Here’s the ad.  Judge for yourself.  I like Snyder (I also like Michigan, too) and think maybe the issue is we need competence not flashiness.

Gov. Mitch Daniels: “Having fallen and sprained my darned shoulder taking out the trash, my New Year’s resolution is that in 2010, (wife) Cheri can take out the trash.

If he can do THAT, perhaps he ought to be President after all!

Thanks again to GOP12 and Indystar.com!

He took Indiana from a $600,000,000 deficit to a $340,000,000 surplus.  Governing magazine named Gov. Daniels the most outstanding public official in 2008. (Thanks for both facts to Americans for Mitch)   He also is a greatly admired and respected leader.  Daniels says he’s through with politics  in an Atlantic article almost Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in style.  But there is a draft Mitch site.  His supporters are also on Facebook and Twitter.  He was quoted as saying (in a nice WSJ article worth reading) his conservative credentials were “uninpeachable”.   I believe him that he won’t run BUT that does not say it can’t happen.

Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and now our Ambassador to China, had been on some short lists for 2012.  His support for civil unions  for gays would hurt him with some social conservatives.  He is also LDS like Mitt Romney.  He may have some of the same issues with certain people.  Again, his beliefs could be a great asset due to the LDS reputation for honesty, integrity and family values.  But I think he is out as long as he is Ambassador to China.  (Huntsman was also Ambassador to Singapore, too.)

General David Petraeus has been banded about in several places as a great President.  I agree he’d be a decisive leader.  This site has intriguing alleged inside baseball about his interest in the job.  He was described in the Forbes article above as being a “Rockefeller Republican”, whatever that means.  If it turns out he is pro-choice and pro gays in the military that will be a hard sell to the GOP base.  The assumption that military officers are social conservatives is not necessarily true.  Despire my immense respect and admiration for General Petreaus I do not think he will run. 

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina is a solid conservative.  There is an interesting and somewhat humorous article that suggests he is not good-looking enough to run for President!  I would suggest he has no problems on that front based on the official Senate website and GOP 12. I like him where he is.

Now I invite the readers to come up with more ideas!

Here’s where I place former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee.  He is a cult icon for evangelicals but he also has this TV show that he seems to genuinely have fun with (and has high ratings).  There is this interesting site that makes me wonder.  I think unless he has polling numbers and fundraising potential showing a real chance, he’ll not walk away from a sure thing.  I wish he’d run in 201o against Sen. Blanche Lincoln.  

Former PA Senator Rick Santorum is apparently testing the waters in Iowa.  I agree with most of Santorum’s views.  It’s a shame that the people of PA put him out.  However, I think he’ll not have staying power.  I can’t see him being more than a fringe candidate. 

Former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush is a great candidate – if his name was not Bush.  But he has some support.  He may be a future candidate, if the American people decide by 2016 or 2020 then Jeb Bush might be a winner.  But not now.  Maybe George P. Bush after two terms as Governor of Florida in say 2032!

Congressman Eric Cantor (who is my congressman) would be a formidible candidate except, he’d have to give up what may be an apparent goal of being Speaker of the House.  I do not think Virginia allows multiple candidacies at the same time. 

Want an experienced candidate?  How does former Secretary of the Interior (under Bush 43), Mayor of major city (Boise, Idaho), Senator and Governor sound?  Try Dirk Kempthorne.  He’s from Idaho and I like the Mountain West (Go Boise State – bust the BCS cartel!) area.  Thanks again to GOP 12 for this lead.  Mark Ambinder at Atlantic has a very good assessment on Sec. Kempthorne.  Here’s a highlight:

Kempthorne, who served as President Bush’s final Secretary of the Interior, is widely known to environmental advocates as a dedicated opponent of regulation and of the Endangered Species Act. His tenture at Interior was pockmarked by scandals — all gifts from his predecessors. But he was also a fan of the National Park System and convinced the administration to prioritize its expansion. In his farewell address, he took credit for tough new ethics rules. During his one term as a senator, his bill to quash unfunded federal mandates for local governments is now law.  Californians and Oregonians credit him for breaking the longstanding impasse over damming the Klamath River. In Idaho, he took the sleepy and rundown city of Boise and rebuilt it.  But his public profile is no higher than that although the American Indian community presumably knows him well from his Interior service. Kempthorne began his political career as a consultant and campaign manager. He’s a fiscal and social conservative with no deviations from the orthodoxy. As a former chairman of the National Governors’ Association and because of his dealings with oil, coal and natural resource enterprises, he could probably raise enough seed money to get started.

That’s not bad except his base is small.  Idaho has only four electoral votes.  If Kempthorne could pull together an idea that was banded about – that the Mountain West would have their primary on the same day – that might increase his base.  Kempthorne could be a good addition to a 2012 ticket from the East or South.

 More not likelies in my next blog entry!  I promise I will get to Mitch Daniels!  Amd Jindal!

The article by Peter Wehner and Michael Gerson examines the GOP fall and institutional reasons why Democrats have some advantages: 

Over the past five presidential elections, Brownstein writes, Democrats have built a “blue wall” consisting of 18 states and the District of Columbia; these account for fully 90 percent of the electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

The solution is to turn to innovative new leaders (emphasis added):

As it happens, the GOP has successful reformers to whom it can look to and learn from, including popular governors or former governors like Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, and Jeb Bush.

Wehner and Gerson also discuss the issue of immigration: 

No national party can hope to succeed in the long run without broad support among immigrants and the children of immigrants—particularly, these days, Hispanics and Asian Americans.

Governor Jindal’s immigrant, Asian-American background and record of accomplishment will be attractive to many people, without sacrificing his staunch conservatism.  Wehner and Gerson restate the point:

To succeed, the Republican argument requires communicating that growing ethnic diversity does not undermine but rather strengthens the American ideal.

This Governor Jindal can do.  He also has stated (in that infamous speech that nobody liked but me!) that government tends to stifle innovation and drive.  Wehner and Gerson agree this issue is crucial for Republicans:

It is, in, fact, vital for Republican leaders to press the case for economic growth in general. Americans achieve their dreams not through the redistribution of wealth but through the creation of wealth.

Governor Jindal can speak to another issue important to Wehner and Gerson – social justice:

In this respect, Republicans would be well advised here to borrow a page from David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith in their revival of the British Conservative party. These leaders have emphasized a range of issues that directly influence the quality of life in community: homelessness, addiction, prison reform, family breakdown, long-term unemployment.

I would suggest that as Governor of Louisiana, Jindal has made major changes that will improve the quality of life:  Ethics reform, encouragement of businesses to come to the state, prison reform, tax reform.  Jindal helped bring back a chicken processing plant to Monroe.  Even less obvious issues like speed traps are part of this new thinking.  Of course Louisiana has to be concerned about weather-related preparedness.  I think we’ll see more innovation. 

Finally, Wehner and Gerson speak of returning the GOP to what Senator Moynihan called a “party of ideas.” 

In the 1980s, one of the Republican party’s main sources of attraction to younger conservatives—we are thinking of our younger selves, among legions of others—was its growing reputation for intellectual vitality. “Of a sudden,” wrote Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, in 1981, “the GOP has become a party of ideas.” Restoring that reputation, to be earned now as then through carefully argued and compellingly articulated programs of reform, is a central challenge.

Governor Jindal clearly has the intellectual capital to enage that debate.  He can shape the debate on many issues.  I believe that he will be a great candidate and if elected a great President – whether in 2012 or beyond. 

Finally, there are other leaders with ideas in the Republican Party.  Gov. Mitch Daniels has a stellar record in Indiana and Governor Pawlenty likewise in Minnesota (a blue state that can and does elect conservatives).  Former Governors Huckabee and Romney have must to admire.  Sarah Palin has been vilified in the press but she can be a spark for the party and cna connect with ordinary people – the exact reason so many liberals are afraid of her.  There are others in Congress and state houses with new ideas.   Finally, Congressman Ron Paul, my other political hero, has changed the field of play for ideas and expanded the GOP’s potential reach. 

Having said that, I still believe that Governor Jindal may be the answer to a party looking for new ideas and a new package attractive to Republicans, many independents and conservative Democrats.  Keep an eye on Louisiana.