Barbour Urges Midterm Focus
MS Gov. Haley Barbour (R) will consider a WH'12 bid, a top advisor said, but before that, Barbour wants conservative activists to focus on the midterm elections -- elections that could give him a platform to launch a future campaign.
"We have got to stay focused on the election of 2010. Don't worry about 2012," Barbour told attendees at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. "We can't wait to 2012 to start taking our country back."
Still, there could be a place for Barbour, widely regarded as one of the best politicians and strategists in the GOP, in the WH'12 field. And Barbour is going to consider jumping in.
Ed Goeas, a GOP pollster and top Barbour advisor, told Hotline OnCall that Barbour is exploring the race and taking a more serious look than he's done previously. Barbour firmly believes the focus needs to be on the midterms, but he also is aware that he has about 2 weeks after Election Day to decide whether or not he will launch a bid, Goeas said.
Goeas said he would serve in an advisory/managerial role, much like high-powered DC lobbyist Charlie Black did for Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) '08 campaign.
But Barbour's address to SRLC attendees stayed as far away from the '12 race as he could. Instead, he talked up his role as RGA chair, urging attendees to get involved in GOV races this year. And, he insisted, the GOP needs to do more to embrace the Tea Party movement.
"We've got to welcome [them]. And they don't just have to feel welcome, they have to be welcome," Barbour said. "The Democrats' fondest hope is to see the Tea Party or other conservatives split off and form a third party."
Where other speakers this weekend offered crowd-rousing red meat, Barbour gave a more subdued talk. His only standing ovations came as he entered and exited. Barbour warned his party needs to accept a broader range of viewpoints, while other speakers railed against RINOs.
"Both parties are necessarily coalitions. Not everybody in the Republican Party is as conservative as Haley Barbour. Let me tell you something else: You can't elect Haley Barbour governor of Vermont," he said. "We cannot let ourselves be torn apart by the idea of purity."
Barbour is one of 3 southern governors routinely included in conversations about the WH'12 field. But he, TX Gov. Rick Perry (R) and LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) will not be on the SRLC's straw poll ballot after asking to be excluded.
Midterm focus means getting to the right policies and sticking to them. That means listening to Ron Paul and supporting his ideas.
The more Republicans focus on the long-missing "economic conservative" issues - how do we get value for our tax dollars; how do we support small and mid-sized businesses; how do we get banks re-fouced on the banking business rather than the derivatives business; how do we make regulation simpler, more focused and more effective;how do we get "sunset provisions" into new legislation so we can put a stop to regulatory complexity - the better they'll do in November.