Candidate X

I've been writing for a few weeks about my notional run for the office of vice-president.  In my stump speeches and such, I don't identify who would be running for president, just referring to him or her as "Candidate X".

There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, there isn't a true frontrunner for the Republican candidate yet, and I'm still at least nominally a Republican.  Second, I'm not too happy about any of the people with their hats in the ring.

Today, Sarah Palin announced that she won't be running next year, and the other day New Jersey governor Christie said the same thing.  The field so far doesn't have anyone that grabs me as "That One", at least not yet.  I like something about every one of the candidates, but I don't like enough about any one of them to say that they're the one I'd want to serve with if I were actually running, and none of them have earned my vote yet.

Here's the list of candidates that I think have a chance at getting the nomination.  The rest of the declared candidates are footnotes unless something changes in the next few months.

• Michele Bachmann - She's a fiscal conservative and spouts the Tea Party line, but I'm not so sure about her assurances that her social values won't color her judgement to the point of being a problem if she is to be given the responsibility for governing the country.  Also, she seems willing to grab at whatever topic seems to be the button pusher of the moment (Gardasil) and run it into the ground, for good or bad.
• Herman Cain - I like that he's actually held down a job and run a business.  I like a lot of his ideas, but he's also said some things that make me pause.
• Ron Paul - I agree with about 75% of what Congressman Paul says.  That alone would normally be enough for me to support him.  But that other 25% is off of my radar far enough that I still hesitate to endorse him.
• Mitt Romney - Not a chance of me endorsing him.  He created the model for ObamaCare as governor of Massachusetts.  He's never met a gun control law that he didn't like.  I have the same reaction to him as I did of Clinton in 1992:  He's willing to be whoever the crowd he's speaking to wants him to be.
• Rick Perry - Still not sure whether or not I like Perry.  He's making the right noises, but he also seems to have some of the political chameleon in him.  I don't like his Gardasil decision, and I'm not too thrilled by his border security and illegal immigration views.

In a nutshell, I'm not impressed.  If I had to pick two, I'd probably pick Cain and Paul out of this pack.  But like I said, there isn't one of them that I'm ready to throw my vote behind just yet.