if i had to guess right now who the republican nominee will be in 2012, i'd guess tim pawlenty. he's kind of boring, but then again, boring can look pretty good next to rattletraps such as palin or bachmann. mitt will go down to his healthcare thingy and to extreme kendollishness, which he can't seem to ameliorate no matter what; i would think he's unacceptable to teaparty types on both counts. jon huntsman is interesting, but he's got problems too, including serving in the obama admin. huckabee has problems to the right, and even though i think he'd be a formidable general-election candidate, people don't seem to think he's running. newt? not. pawlenty is the only one right now who i can picture the whole party unifying behind, and he's been running since the last election. my impression is actually of a pretty bright, articulate person, though a rather unprepossessing one. but his very geekiness is somehow comforting, and you don't picture a scarlet fingernail on the button where you've got no idea what might happen on a given evening.