We’ve had the race for the operatives. We’ve seen the appeals to the activists and influence leaders. Ongoing is the race for the sexiest endorsements. For some, the lure is for the stature of a title, a paycheck to feed the family, a sense of belongingness, the adrenaline of a competition, the ability to make a difference and influence a result, or just the chance to sit back, pull out the popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show.All of these are for the "inside baseball" crowd – those folks, for whatever reason, follow the news and politics with a passion that borders on obsession (moi?).
For over a year, we’ve watched the toes put into the pool, scouting out the landscape, and formulating the political niche to be populated (either by natural fit or by calculating the risk):
- Establishment, TEA Party, or Libertarian?
- Politician, Biz, or Other?
- Moderate R, Centrist R, or Conservative?
- Personality or Wonkish?
- Thinker, Doer, Speaker?
- Charismatic or <guy | gal> Next Door (a little softwarespeak there)?
- Macro or Micro picture person?
- Disciplined or "Winging it"?
- Principled or Pragmatic?
Or Predictable or Unorthodox? Hmmm?
Yesterday, Tim Pawlenty showed a bit of courage and opened up the newest phase of the campaign: Nitty-Gritty Details. Sure, we’ve heard some of the stances in house events, political events, debates, and the like. But to me, this was really the first stab of putting it really on paper, and showing the details of how much of an Anti-Obama economic policy he will have.
Yes, at some point, different Groksters may decide to support a given candidate as individuals (and that field is not set yet either). GraniteGrok will also make an endorsement based on our outlook on how things should be and who closest represents our vision.
In the meantime, we tip our hat to Mr. Pawlenty for stepping out and lining himself up to allow the others to shoot the arrows at him in attempts participate in that age-old game of "one-upmanship".
I’ll be posting the speech and video up in a bit.
OK, Prez-wannabees; the gauntlet has been thrown down – what are your next moves?
