It Begins Again Before It Is Even Over

Why wait for John McCain’s defeat? It’s never too early to start sucking up to those finicky Iowa caucus-goers. So reasons Louisiana Governor Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal. Jindal is headed up to Iowa about three weeks after the general election to speak to a conservative Christian event called “Celebrating the Family” which is sure to provide him with a showcase to explain why he doesn’t like gay marriage, is opposed to abortion rights, and for all intents and purposes launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

Speculation is that he will be mainly competing for votes with Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. But we’ll see. Someone in Congress will become the right-wing firebrand of opposition to the overwhelming Democratic majority and run from within the Beltway. It’s a long time until things get heated up and there’s a lot of history yet to happen. New faces can and will emerge. And if these are the names that are coming up now, it appears that my hoped-for Republican Reboot is going in exactly the wrong way for me -- these are all people with strong appeal to social and religious conservatives. But again, it's a long time away and no one can confidently predict what will happen -- certainly not at this stage of the game.

But make no mistake. Campaign '12 has begun.