The GOP Race Is Spinning Out of Control

The race to find who will attempt to unseat Barack Obama from the White House in November 2012 has finally come to life. One of the more serious contenders, Tim Pawlenty, pulled out of the race on Sunday after suffering a setback in the straw poll held at Ames, Iowa. Pawlenty only got third place, coming in behind Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul; he had invested most of his campaign’s budget in this test battle in Iowa. His “dry persona” did not really leave a mark at the debate, unlike the highly divisive and dramatic speeches of the female tea partyer or even that of the elderly libertarian candidate.

Pawlenty’s advisers have acknowledged that he needed a victory at Ames to reinvigorate his political campaign. He was willing to risk everything at the debate before the vote in Ames that Thursday, going so far as to attack his fellow Minnesotan, Michele Bachmann. The attack did nothing to save his campaign; nor did it prevent victory for Bachmann, who came as a revelation for the Republican Party: She resembles a more competent Sarah Palin.

But the race has also had an important newcomer: Rick Perry, the governor of Texas; he decided to run for the White House the following Saturday after assuring the public last winter that he would not run. Perry is the sixteenth candidate to enter the race (including Pawlenty, who just forfeited), but Perry is among the favorites since his opponents all have some kind of handicap: being Mormon, too extreme, too centrist, divorced, etc.

After the twists and turns of the post-debate weekend, Romney, Perry and Bachmann are the new top three of the Republican race, says David Jackson of USA Today. Mitt Romney hardly shone in the vote in Iowa (3 percent against Bachmann’s 29 percent and Ron Paul’s 28), and he still has the flaw of being a Mormon (and anti-France), but his presence is impressive, not to mention the fact that he attracts a lot of monetary support. Many Republicans dream of better candidates they consider better, like Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, in case Perry begins to lose and does not quickly exit the race.

With that, we will now turn our attention to Barack Obama, who has been shaken by the recent budgetary battle in Washington. On the Monday after the debate, Obama began a three-day tour in the Midwest, covering Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. It looks like like we will be following his blog and his everyday life.