Campaigning for the Presidency is a full time and stressful job! Being an officeholder when running for President, therefore, complicates one’s candidacy, as it leads to accusations that the candidate is not paying attention to his job! Also, if any controversial bills or problems arise, that candidate’s reaction to the situation can complicate or destroy any advantage he or she has gained!
So more than ever, most presidential candidates will be FORMER officeholders! This trend became evident when Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan all ran for and won the Presidency!
If one looks at the field of potential GOP candidates for President in 2012, note the following are all FORMER officeholders:
Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (Governor)
Newt Gingrich of Georgia (Congressman)
Sarah Palin of Alaska (Governor)
Mike Huckabee of Arkansas (Governor)
Jeb Bush of Florida (Governor)
Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (Senator)
Others that are rumored to be planning to run include officeholders who will not be running for reelection, either by choice or state law:
Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota (Governor)
Haley Barbour of Mississippi (Governor)
A few others considering or rumored to be running while staying in office include:
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana (Governor)
Mike Pence of Indiana (Congressman)
Mitch Daniels of Indiana (Governor)
Scott Brown of Massachusetts (Senator)
John Thune of South Dakota (Senator)
Ron Paul of Texas (Congressman)
Chris Christie of New Jersey (Governor)
So it is almost a certainty that the Republican nominee for President will be a former officeholder, with the time and the freedom to run a campaign without any work barriers on his or her part!