Sen. John Thune (R-SD) just got finished speaking here at CPAC, offering up a speech long on biography and short on anything too memorable policy-wise — like most here, he thinks big government is horrible, and that under President Obama government is getting bigger, therefore Obama is horrible. He’s yet another in the line of speakers today who is not running for president but kind of is, too.
But where others have a very pat “I’ll tell you when I tell you” response to questions about when or if they’ll run for the GOP nomination, Thune likes to push the envelope — getting as close to saying yes as he possibly can without actually admitting anything.
Consider this quote that Thune gave to the Huffington Post‘s Sam Stein in a group of reporters accompanying the Senator on his way into the hotel:
“This is, as you know, the largest gathering of conservatives across the country. So we want to get here and get our message out there, hopefully get people inspired, engaged and energized to go out to help us win elections in 2012.”
So he wants to get people fired up about him for next year, but he just won’t say what for. Yet. On stage, he kept it up.
“I know that as we gather here in February 2011 there’s already a lot of speculation about November of 2012,” he said. “I hope and I’m betting that 2012 is going to be the year are we not only take back the senate but also the White House.”
There is probably no better snapshot of the 2012 race as it stands now lines like that. No one will say they’re running, but they want to make damn sure you’re asking.
