To say that I am a political junkie would be a tremendous understatement. I love politics. I love talking about politics and if and I would run for local office and her words are that “she is a political liability”. I love talking politics with those that have similar views and love talking politics with those that don’t share my views. One of my co-workers will tell you that we have the best politics discussions (please note that I said discussions as we discuss our views) and we have completely opposite opinions.

We are only a few months away from the next Presidential election and as a life long Republican, I’m not really sure how I feel about our chances of regaining the White House. And I am also beginning to become concerned about losing the House as well. So here are my thoughts on the current field of Republican candidates:

Mitt Romney – A business leader. A former Governor.  Someone that knows how to lead a state, establish a budget, lead others. In saying that, Romney Care does have some similar points as Obama Care. My personal belief is that barring any major setbacks, Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate to face President Obama. I think that Mitt Romney is the best candidate that can reach both Republicans and also Independent voters.  Is Mitt Romney the best candidate that is running, I believe so. And I believe that he can beat President Obama.

There is one other Republican candidate, Ron Paul, that is still left in the race.  I have intentionally skipped over this candidate, as in my opinion, as even though Ron Paul has been an effective leader, he is not the right candidate to take on President Obama.

I love politics. And right now, I have 1 fear: That Mitt Romney gets the nomination and Ron Paul decides to run as an Independent and takes votes away from Mitt Romney.

The next 6 months will be very interesting and depending on the polls, it is a very tight race. Leads will change. Digs will be made at each candidate. But one thing that I think is for sure, this election comes down to 3 things and 3 things only:

1) Economy – How the markets are doing? Has the housing market improved? Are people spending money again?
2) Jobs – Are people back to work? And please do not confuse my thinking here, I am not basing this off the reported jobless claims report. I am referring to the actually number of people that are out of work.
3) Independents – The Independents will decide this years election. The majority of the voters have a good idea of how they are going to vote if they had to make a decision today. But it is those that are on the fence and the Independents that are going to decide which party takes control, because I do not think that it is just the White House up for grabs. The Senate is definitely in play as well this year.

So how are the Republican candidates going to shape up this year? Your guess is as good as mine. I do think that Mitt Romney has a great chance to win, not because the Republicans want him in the White House, but because they want President Obama out. But I think that if Mitt can gain some traction and really focus on the 3 things that I pointed out:
1) Economy – Lay out a plan to reduce the deficit and balance our budgets (which has not been done under the current administration);
2) Jobs – Lay out a plan to get Americans back to work, give corporations a tax incentive to bring jobs back to the United States;
3) Independents – Reach out and take a moderate stance, instead of the normal far right approach

I think, if those 3 goals are achieved, Mitt Romney will in fact win the election.