You would think it was a joke, but it isn’t:
Conservative activists on Saturday named former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the winner of a poll for best 2012 GOP presidential candidate. The poll marked the third consecutive year Romney came out on top. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal placed second in the annual poll, conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Romney received 20 percent of the vote and Jindal got 14 percent. Close behind were Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who each received 13 percent of the vote.
These results tend to indicate that a little more than one-quarter of the “conservatives” at CPAC have a functional brain. Romney is a liberal technocrat. Jindal is a little goblin who just blew his first moment on the national stage, he’s the sort of politician that only political geeks would take seriously as a presidential candidate. Palin has genuine political star power, but she’s of dubious conservative credentials. However, she is much more viable than the other two and would look particularly good if paired as a running mate for Ron Paul, who is the most principled politician in the country, has a broad-spectrum national following, and has been remarkably, demonstrably, prescient about domestic and foreign affairs.
If the Republicans want to win in 2012, their best bet among the current list of candidates would be to go with a Paul-Palin ticket. Obama’s massive stimulus package will have failed by then and Ron Paul is the only potential Republican candidate who can credibly explain why. Paul’s age is a problem, but it could turn out to be a benefit once Obama’s inexperience and general cluelessness becomes apparent to the electorate and a pairing with the next generation’s only star would help alleviate the issue.