Thune still flirting with presidential bid
Washington (CNN) - South Dakota Sen. John Thune appears to be still very much flirting with the possibility of running for president despite overwhelming speculation he is more likely to instead set his sights on increasing his rank among the Senate Republican leadership.
In an interview with the National Review posted online Wednesday, Thune suggested he might be the best GOP candidate to matchup against President Obama.
"As Republican voters think about who they want to nominate, it really ought to come down to which candidate can defeat President Obama," he said. "It really comes down to match-ups. Sometimes you have a very talented group of athletes. But at the end of the day, it comes down to who matches up best against your opponent.
"When it comes to age and energy, all those sorts of things, I think it could be a great match-up," added Thune.
The comments come four days after Thune was warmly greeted at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of conservative political activists in Washington, DC that this year served as an early cattle call for likely GOP presidential candidates.
The two-term senator took the stage Friday to chants of 'Run John, Run," but ultimately gave the crowd few hints into his political future.
Thune has said he will decide by the end of February whether to run.
If Thune the loon has the support of CPAC (crack pots acting crazy) it did not show up in the presidential preference poll. I think Ron Paul beat every other presidential right wingnut candidate like a rented mule.
At this rate, every state is going to have someone running as a native son (or daughter)! And the beauty is each one is tripping over the others to prove they are more conservative than the rest! Keep this up and they will be too reactionary for even the Koch brothers!
Amazing the egos on these guys! "I think I would be a good match up" in your dreams buddy.
Isn't his state the one with the county that has 60% or more living at or below the poverty level? Think he would be more concerned about those folks than his political career-especially since a majority are American Indians-the only TRUE Americans.
he has no chance of winning if he did run. He's stood on the sidelines and offered nothing but criticism and no results. He's nothing but John Boehner and Mitch McConnell in one person.
HE'S
ALREADY
RUNNING
Pretending that you're not running for POTUS, playing coy and "flirting" with it as the media dances in your lap like a $2 wh-re...that's the same as already running. Until Captain Chiselchin unequivocally states that he's not running, he's running.
"As Republican voters think about who they want to nominate, it really ought to come down to which candidate can defeat President Obama," he said. "It really comes down to match-ups."
Right. Because it has nothing to do with qualifications, policy positions, proven ability, charisma, etc...at least not as far as the GOP is concerned.