Does anybody else predict Hillary vs. Palin in 2012?

Question

Who will you support and who do you think will win?

Answer 1

Now that would be interesting.

Of course I would vote Palin.

Answer 2

Even in this scenario, where Sen. McCain would win, elevating Gov. Palin to the Vice Presidency, and effectively ending Sen. Obama's political career, I don't see either Palin or Sen. Clinton as a lock for their party nomination.

As far as Sen. Clinton goes, I think her stature has been elevated and diminished, at the same time, but in different ways. I think the way the 2008 primaries played out showed that there was a strong "anti-Clinton" wing in the establishment of the Democratic Party, which the media underestimated in their narrative that Clinton was the candidate of the establishment and that Obama was the outsider. I think that there were people within the party who saw the Clintons as having near monopolistic control of the Democratic party, to the point where Hillary was seen as "inevitable", a lock for the nomination for most of 2007. And because of that, they saw that as limiting their power. So they wanted someone else to defeat Hillary Clinton so that it would loosen their control of the party. I think it took a long time for a lot of these people to get behind Sen. Obama, because, for one thing, many of them were running against him at the time, and also, many doubted, particularly throughout 2007, that he really had what it took to take on and defeat the Clinton machine. But, after he won the Iowa caucuses, slowly, the endorsements of the Kerry, the Kennedys, Chris Dodd, Claire McCaskill, Kathleen Sebelius, Bill Richardson, revealed a wing of the Democratic party who wanted to wrench complete control of the party from the Clintons, and hoped that this Obama could do it.

That being said, if Sen. Clinton runs again, which I'm sure she will if she gets the chance, she's going to enter the race in a much different position than she did with this race. No longer will she be, the inevitable, the incumbent, even. Because of that, I think you'll have more people willing to attempt a run against her that sat out the race this time, because they thought she was undefeatable. Obama's victory disproved that. Somehow I don't think Evan Bayh is going to sit out the 2012 race and endorse Hillary again if he gets the chance. So she'll have to fight for it against more competition that is going to be a lot more willing and confident to take her on.

But, she has also been strengthened. She has learned from the mistakes of her 2008 run, and created an impressive voter base for a future run. She created a solid base of women voters and blue collar voters, and showed significant strength in Appalachia. That's certainly a solid case she can make for her nomination if she chooses to run in the future.

If Gov. Palin is elected Vice President, then, on paper, she would be the heir apparent for the Republican nomination. The Republicans, in particular, have traditionally given the nomination to the candidate considered "next in line". However, the 2008 Republican primaries created two new major players in the Republican Party, Gov. Mike Huckabee and the particularly ambitious Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney had reason to believe that he had a very good chance of being named to John McCain's ticket this year. And I would guess that he is nothing short of infuriated that McCain decided to bring in someone new in Gov. Palin, elevating her status in the party and creating a potential opponent for him in the future. Win or lose, trust me, Mitt Romney will not go quietly.  

Answer 3

I'm curious who would have won in 2008 for this scenario to play out, and why would they not be running for re-election?

Answer 4

By the time McCan finishes his 8 years Hill will be 70 years old-not a pretty visual