Max Twain's 2012 Power Rankings

Max Twain pops his blogging cherry at Race 4 2012, ejaculating a nicely-framed list of 25 contenders.

A few of my thoughts on his list:

a) No way in hades is Sanford the #2 contender. I know he's #3 on InTrade, and he's become a conservative darling, but his state could be in shambles by 2012 because of his temperament and his general Mosessness and Jeremiahasness, neither of whom won Israel's popular vote (well, Moses was back and forth -- like Grover Cleveland).

b) Good choice of Thune at #5. He doesn't make many lists, but we've been covering him extensively, because we think he'll be covering extensive ground come 2012.

c) Tim Pawlenty at #8 is a more reasonable ranking than most. Usually, he's top 5 material, but that's a difficult sell. He's just permanently sleepy and the ketamine candidate could have problems (see Jim Gilmore, circa 2008)

d) If Rick Perry runs, he'lll be out before Iowa. And he won't even run. Because he's a Republican governor from Texas who literally sounds just like W.

f) Jim DeMint at #18? At this point, DeMint's trajectory is up; his buddy Sanford's down.

g) Jeb Bush at #14? Above Barbour, DeMint, and Cantor? A lot of Republicans are still hoping for Jeb, but, like Lindsay Lohan, that's one bush that's seen its best days.

Read the rankings.