HAILING HALEY THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY – AT 7:44 P.M. ET:  We've been following the quiet rise of Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi within GOP ranks.  Now comes the money part.  From The Politico:

As Haley Barbour continues brushing aside speculation about his presidential prospects, the Mississippi governor is discreetly building a complex political operation rivaling those of any other 2012 GOP presidential prospects.

His apparatus, which has socked away hundreds of thousands of dollars this year alone, will get a major boost — as will the Barbour 2012 buzz — when the governor takes some time away from the Gulf oil spill threatening his home region’s shorelines to attend a big fundraiser Thursday for one of his three political action committees.

The fundraiser, set for adjoining hot spots in Washington’s trendy Glover Park neighborhood, has been the talk of Washington GOP circles, boasting a host committee that reads like a next-generation GOP bundling and campaign dream team.

COMMENT:  Barbour, an excellent and respected governor, used to be Republican national chairman.  He knows what levers to pull or who to get to pull them.

Can he be president?  Long shot, I'd say.  His great asset has been his record as Mississippi governor.  That is also his greatest problem – the name of the state.  Its racial history inevitably comes up.

Barbour is rumpled and a bit plump.  But if the Repubicans are looking for rumpled and plump, they can choose new Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who's become a sensation.  Tough spoken and refreshing, he's doing as governor exactly what he said he'd do, taking on the interests that have led N.J. almost to bankruptcy.  His Fox News interviews, on YouTube, have gone viral. 

Some say Christie is too unattractive and rotund to be president in the TV age.  I don't know.  Could be Americans are tired of toned and chic.  Mr. T&C hasn't exactly brought home the bacon, low-fat or normal.

And if not Chris Christie, well, Haley Barbour looks rumpled enough. 

June 24, 2010