Jonah Goldberg Handicaps 2012 GOP Presidential Field: Sarah Palin Has Most Devoted Following Among Actual Voters

Who among us can contain their excitement? The GOP presidential primary season has begun!

By my count, there are 24 people who are beneficiaries of nontrivial presidential buzz: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, David Petraeus, Ron Paul, Jeb Bush, John Bolton, Bob McDonnell, Jim DeMint, Chris Christie, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Judd Gregg, Marco Rubio and Rick Perry.

And, with a heavy heart, I take it upon myself to winnow the field down for you.

~ Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg has penned one of the more interesting pieces I've read on the 2012 Republican Presidential field.

Two things struck me though. One of them about Mike Huckabee:

Also, there's growing buzz that Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a fierce defender of his top-tier contender status, may not run at all because he's got a big new contract with Fox News in the works.

This is not surprising. Huckabee is a media darling because his support is a mile wide, but an inch deep. The Conservative base wants nothing to do with him, especially when he pulls stunts like this.

Huckabee's fund raising ability is comical with HuckPAC, his political action committee, doing all it can just to stay afloat. As we get closer to 2012,  Huckabee's record as a Big Government tax and spend progressive is not going to play well. Not in this political environment.

It's always struck me as a bit hypocritical. The left, their media partners, and the GOP elites always try and label Sarah Palin as “just a celebrity” and “not a serious candidate” and yet, she's the one out there raising millions of dollars, helping get over 60 Republicans elected to office, and releasing important policy statements on every pressing issue of our time.

Meanwhile Huckabee's the one with the weekly TV show that's a cross between Oprah and a 21st Century version of Hee-Haw! If Goldberg's sources are right, it's Huckabee, not Sarah, who is just in it for the money.

Tell me, who is the “serious” one is again?

Speaking of Sarah, Goldberg after narrowing things down, and coming up with an interesting field of contenders, has this to say about Sarah Palin:

Palin probably has the most devoted following among actual voters.

That one sentence says it all. While the media has their favorites [the ones who they know will lose to Obama] and the GOP establishment has their boys [who will make sure it's all business as usual] the American people, the ones who will actually decide the elections, prefer Sarah Palin.

Check out Goldberg's analysis here.