2011 Jul 06

It was last November when I asked all of you to make a prediction on who you thought would be  the Republican nominee for President in 2012.  Fourteen responses yielded NINE different names, with the top prediction -- Tim Pawlenty -- getting only 3 1/3 picks.  That certainly told the story.
 
Since then, not much has been clarified, except that most – but not all -- potential candidates have either formally announced they are in or out.  This seems to be a good time to ask you to make the same prediction again.  I have a few other predictions for you to make as well, if you wish.  So please answer these questions (read on), send them to me (only) and I will aggregate get them and play them back to you along with some pithy, witty commentary.  Well, I can't really promise either pithy or witty, but I CAN promise my response will contain no semi-nude photographs of me, nor will it be lewd.
 
For the record, here is the line-up.  You can predict the nominee from any of these four lists as well as anyone else who you think might get the nod who is NOT on any of these lists.  All lists are in alphabetical order.
 
DECLARED CANDIDATES - Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Johnson, Ron Paul, Pawlenty, Roemer, Romney, Santorum
OFFICIALLY OUT – Barbour, Daniels, Huckabee, Pence, Thune, Trump
MULLING IT OVER - Guiliani, Palin, Perry
OTHERS (BUT VERY UNLIKELY) – Bloomberg, Jeb Bush, Christie, Jindal, Pataki, Petraeus, Rubio, Ryan
 
OK, so please make a prediction (one name each is preferred) for each of the following:

1. Republican Presidential nominee
2. Republican Vice-Presidential nominee
3. Democrat Vice-Presidential nominee
4. Secretary of State (if the Democrats win)
5. Will Hillary run for President in 2016?

I’ve attached a delightful spreadsheet to keep things sorted out, and it also provides you with monthly Gallup Poll data on question 1.

Please get back to me soon!