Lonesome for a Lone Star Man

Hands-up if you, or anyone you know whom you’d consider even vaguely sensible, is happy with the declared field for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination Stakes? Quite. The case against each candidate – Romney, Pawlenty et al – is vastly stronger than the strongest case you can make for their prospects. It is not a race over-cluttered with star quality. Those that can win the nomination are unattractive; those that can’t scarcely worth considering no matter how fine they may be in other respects.

So it’s not surprising that eyes turn to late entrants who could add some class to what is currently a pretty drab or shabby field. Mitch Daniels is the front-runner in the Hypothetical Derby but by the time Daniels declares, if indeed he does, he’ll seem like old news already and, worse, risks being hobbled by more expectation than he can reasonably be expected to carry. So we need another candidate.