When one reflects on the disaster that the Republican Party has been through in the first half of 2009, one has to say that former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts looks better and better!
With the self destruction of so many GOP potential Presidential candidates–including Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, and Rick Perry–Mitt Romney looks more legitimate and serious. With his business experience, his family’s auto industry background, his enactment of a state health care plan in Massachusetts, his outstanding speaking ability, his photogenic good looks, and his being a Republican NOT from the South or Appalachia (the basic image of the Republican party after the election of 2008), Romney must be seen as the front runner for 2012 at this point.
On the other hand, the fact that Romney is a Mormon and is not therefore acceptable to the evangelical Christian wing of the GOP, and the charges that his record in Massachusetts shows him to be a phony conservative, can be seen as his major negatives.
But at this point, if I was to put betting money down, and I am NOT doing that LOL :), I would say Mitt Romney is the man to beat!