7 people who want to take on Obama (cheat sheet)

There’s an on-going joke that the US Republican party spent so long trying to destroy the Presidency of Obama that it forgot to find someone they agreed on to replace him. That’s happening now, which might explain the glut of media coverage of values-spouting Republican candidates trying to out-conservative each other to become the man or woman.

But who will it be? The New Hampshire Primary (part of a series of nationwide primaries aimed at electing both Republican and Democratic candidates) is due tomorrow. If you haven’t been following the candidates, this is going to be a real eye-opener.

Be forewarned: prolific use of American flags as photo opportunity props may follow.

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (fun fact, 44% of the nation don’t know his first name) is a politician and businessman who made his fortune in private equity investments. That wealth funded his campaigns for office, including a successful one as Governor of Massachusetts where he was in power from 2003-2007.

Back then he was a fiscal conservative (he eliminated a $3 billion deficit) while maintaining a moderately progressive view on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. That’s changed – at least the social part has.

He might be doing well, but one of Mitt’s biggest problems is that, according to the punters, he believes in the ‘wrong God’. You see, he’s a Mormon. Americans are least likely to vote for an avowed atheist, but Mormons aren’t particularly high on that list either.

Here are some fast facts:

1. As Governor, he vetoed an emergency contraceptive bill for rape victims which would have made the morning after pill available over the counter.

2. Also as Governor, Romney passed an at-the-time unprecedented Massachusetts healthcare reform law which included near-universal health insurance coverage in the state. He has since distanced himself from the measure … because it’s kind of like President Obama’s national healthcare reform.

3. He’s too rich. Even by American standards. Worth around $250 million, he was caned after offering another candidate a $10,000 bet. Proof, opponents said, that he was ‘out of touch’.

4. “Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings my friend.” – That’s what Romney said after he was heckled for refusing to say corporations should share the burden of some financial reforms.

He’s currently the (very narrow) frontrunner in the race to become the Republican Presidential candidate.

Rick Santorum

Meet the man with the most unfortunate surname. Don’t Google it. Seriously, don’t.

He’s narrowly trailing Mitt Romney in the race to become the Republican Presidential nominee and he’s one of the more … interesting, of the field. He may just be one of the most conservative in the field. A former lawyer, Santorum has been a member of the House of Reps and the Senate and now wants to run the country. He’s on the record as saying he would bomb Iran if they did not open potential weapons sites for inspection. Here’s some other things he has said:

1. “Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”

2. “I would argue that the future of America hangs in the balance, because the future of the family hangs in the balance. Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?”

3. Again, regarding a Massachusetts supreme court approval of same-sex marriage: “This is an issue just like 9/11. We didn’t decide we wanted to fight the war on terrorism because we wanted to. It was brought to us. And if not now, when? When the supreme courts in all the other states have succumbed to the Massachusetts version of the law?”

4. On Catholic priest abuse scandals: “Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political, and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.”

You get the picture.

Ron Paul

He’s 76 and a bit of a loose cannon in the Republican Party. He’s voted against them many times and it seems the only people he disagrees with more are the Democrats, to whom Obama belongs.

He’s been called the ‘spiritual’ leader of the American Tea Party movement which began after Obama took office and exist mostly to ram home the fact they want as little Government intervention in their lives as possible. Individual freedom and all that. And much lower taxes.

Ron Paul really hates Government spending too much money and threw a curve-ball when he co-sponsored a bill which aimed to end the federal ban on marijuana. Well, the more you know.

Here’s some things he’s been saying:

1. “I’m very dangerous to the status quo … people who are getting the bailouts, the people in military-industrial complex, the people who benefit from the Federal Reserve system.”

2. On his views to abolish the Department of Education: “For the most part, I wouldn’t want to replace them because I don’t think we need a Department of Education. What I want to do is go back to the assumption it’s not the federal government’s proper authority to tell your parents how to educate you. It’s your parents’ responsibility.”

Fun fact, Ron Paul is a doctor and says he has delivered 4000 babies.

Newt Gingrich

Newt is a politician, author and one-time history teacher most famous for helping to shut the Government down. Yup, that’s right. When he was Speaker of the US House of Representatives in 1995 and 1996 his promise of winding back Government spending clashed big-time with President Clinton’s desire to spend big on national reforms like healthcare (which  didn’t get off the ground then). Neither of the pair refused to budge and for six days in November 1995 and almost a month from December 16 the Government had to close all non-essential offices and departments because there was no, um, money.

Welfare services for stopped or curtailed, the Centre for Disease control stopped monitoring for diseases, toxic waste clean-up was halted at more than 600 sites, 200,000 passport applications remained unprocessed and the list goes on.

The blame was mostly aimed at Gingrich who, it was said, just chucked a tantrum in response to some hurt feelings.

Here’s some other things he has said:

1. “I’m very happy to say that this morning I received a phone call from Todd Palin, saying that he intended to endorse me.” That’s Sarah Palin’s husband, for those playing along at home.

2. “The fact is if I become your nominee we will make the key test very simple — food stamps versus paychecks. Obama is the best food stamp president in American history.  More people are on food stamps today because of Obama’s policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history.”

3. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age, they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists.”

4. “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. There is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”

Rick Perry

Here’s one candidate who may have made the most waves. But it was for this campaign ad:

It went viral for all the wrong reasons. Perry is obviously an uber-conservative and the current Governor of Texas. But he was once a Democrat, like his father, and once supported Al Gore for President in the 1980s. He switched parties in 1989. He doesn’t like taxes and called healthcare reform proposals to give average Americans cover ‘socialism on American soil’.

In 2001 he was instrumental in extending Texas tuition benefits to undocumented migrants on the condition they pledge to apply for permanent citizenship or residency if they could. He’s a supporter of the death penalty and once vetoed a potential ban on the execution of mentally impaired inmates.

Things he has said:

1. “I make a very proud statement and of fact that we have a president that’s a socialist. I don’t think our founding fathers wanted America to be a socialist country. So I disagree with that premise that somehow or another that President Obama reflects our founding fathers. He doesn’t. He talks about having a more powerful, more centralized, more consuming and costly federal government.”

2. “I think you need to have a tax system that basically is flat, fair and simple. And– that you can put on a post card.”

3. “I will tell you: It’s three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the … what’s the third one there? Let’s see. … OK. So Commerce, Education and the … The third agency of government I would — I would do away with the Education, the … Commerce and — let’s see — I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” The one he was looking for was ‘Department of Energy’.

4. “It’s a theory that’s out there. It’s got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution.”

Michele Bachmann (now out of the race)

The only female in the field, she’s been described as an even more extreme version of Sarah Palin. But she pulled out of the race sooner after a poor result in Iowa. She’s a former Democrat but says she changed her mind after reading a liberal book which ‘made fun’ of the Founding Fathers of America.

She believes global warming is a hoax, that Obama is ‘anti-American’ and that a ‘nuclear strike’ on Iran shouldn’t be off the table.

Here’s some other things she’s said:

1. “If we took away the minimum wage… we could potentially wipe out unemployment because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

2. “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat President Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

3. “Normalisation of gayness through desensitisation. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders is, take a picture of The Lion King for instance and a teacher might say ‘do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man’? The message is: I’m better at what I do because I’m gay.”

Jon Huntsman – Now out of the race [Jan 16]

Jon is a businessman and politician who has worked in four presidential administrations, starting with Ronald Reagan as a staff assistant. He was also the Governor of Utah. He calls himself a centre-right conservative and might be the most moderate of them all. He’s certainly on the record as willing to work with President Obama.

This might also explain why he’s received next to no votes in the race so far.

He supports civil unions for same-sex couples (but not marriage) and signed legislation during his term in Utah that restricted abortions.

Here’s some memorable quotes:

1. “I was criticized last night by Governor Romney for putting my country first … He criticized me while he was out raising money for serving my country in China [Huntsman was an Ambassador to China]. Yes, under a Democrat. Like my two sons are doing in the United States Navy. They’re not asking what political affiliation the president is. I want to be very clear with the people here in New Hampshire and this country: I will always put my country first.”

2. “The American people are tired of the partisan division. They have had enough. There is no trust left among the American people in the institutions of power and among the American people and our elected officials … And I say we’ve had enough. We have to change our direction in terms of coming together as Americans, first and foremost.”

3. “Economic prosperity and quality education for our children are inexorably linked.”

And that’s that. Phew. Of course there’s terabytes of data on these guys and this is a (moderately) short list. If you’ve stumbled across other fun facts or interesting tidbits, let us know. Otherwise, what are your thoughts on the field of potential Obama opponents?