ELECTAPRES.COM

The stealth early rounds of the 2012 presidential race are underway. It has become one of the rites of the quadrennial contest to lament its early start, but that’s no more than a griper’s cliché at this point — it will not change, and it’s really not all that new. John Kennedy was mulling his 1960 run as early as 1954. At the last national party conventions, some rising stars were highlighted by the media as possible contenders for 2016; Evan Bayh has said he could run for president as late as 2024. So, not only is the next campaign underway — the three beyond it may be as well.

The moderate voice

Charlotte, N.C. — The 2012 presidential election wasn’t high on the minds of the NRA convention’s organizers, or of most of the attendees. But mainstream-media voices declared that the speaker lineup “looks like the conservative roundup for the 2012 GOP primaries,” and it’s hard to imagine a Republican winning the party’s nomination without a reasonably solid record on protecting the Second Amendment. Whenever a large, geographically diverse group of conservatives congregates, those who hope to carry the conservative banner will appear.

National Review

Related articles by Zemanta

• Speakers at NRA convention target Washington, midterms (cnn.com)
• Palin Headed to NRA Convention (usnews.com)
• Conservatives Up in Arms Over Concerns NRA Too ‘Soft’ (newsy.com)
• Conservatives Ponder NRA Priorities, Motives Questioned on Kagan, Reid (foxnews.com)
• NRA Steps up Anti-Kagan Campaign (politics.usnews.com)
• An NRA Board Member Takes on the NRA (redstate.com)
• NRA to endorse Harry Reid? (salon.com)
• Yet Again the NRA Sells Out Freedom to the Democrats (redstate.com)
• Palin: Obama Would Ban Guns If He Could (newser.com)

Before Rick Perry can parlay his tea party-powered victory in the Texas governor’s primary into something bigger — a 2012 Republican presidential ticket, perhaps — he’ll have to actually win a record-setting, third four-year term.

AP/Google

“I don’t plan to do it, I don’t expect to do it, I really don’t want to do it,” Daniels told my colleagues and me, adding that “there are 100 reasons that no sane person wants to do this.”

Human Events

If you’re a political junkie craving the start of the 2012 presidential race, your time has come!

Wapo

The news recently emerged in the wire services and general media that Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana has chosen not to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2010.

Chicago Tribune

Related articles by Zemanta

• What does Evan Bayh’s retirement mean for LGBT rights? (bilerico.com)
• Evan Bayh Stopping By ‘The View’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• Democratic Senator Evan Bayh to Retire, Person Says (Update1) (businessweek.com)
• What will Evan Bayh do with his $13m war chest? (americablog.com)