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As we await the eleventy-twelfth Republican Presidential Nomination debate at 8PM tonight, featuring all of the serious Republican candidates*, let's pause a moment to remember the people who just weren't weighty enough to appear on the stage.
First among equals is the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. She had the name recognition, but reading all those newspapers every day just didn't leave time for a campaign this year.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey rode a groundswell of support lasting hours and hours, but decided against a run. It's hard to be the "Anybody but Mitt" choice when you're a middle-of-the--Republican-road Governor from a Northeast state.
11-11-11! 9-9-9! Whatever happened to 9/11-9/11/9-11? Rudy Giuliani decided that the electorate was not yet ready for his candor - much as Holmes decided that the world was not ready for the story of the Giant Rat of Sumatra. (Rudy is the one who reminds me of Gloria Swanson, perhaps a result of his penchant for dressing in drag. I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille!)
There are still some exclamation points left in the punctuation jar, so we can remember Jeb! By now we were supposed to be looking back with fondness and admiration to the GWB years, eager for another scion to reclaim the throne. Maybe next interregnum?
A few years ago there was a movement to amend the Constitution to let Arnold Schwarzenegger run for President. Unless some robots from the future re-write recent history, that now seems unlikely.
I suspect that I'm forgetting a lot of pre-season favorites. Who else deserves a nod?
* "Serious Republican candidates" include pizza magnate / accused molester Herman Cain, perennial third-party candidate Ron Paul, and voter-rejected former Senator Rick Santorum. Unserious candidates include former Governors Gary Johnson and Ray Roemer.
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