AND NOW FOR A GROWN-UP VIEW – AT 8:34 A.M. ET:  Michael Barone, one of the nation's leading political reporters, gives us a sober, grown-up view of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, now that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has pulled out:

I read someone earlier this week confidently stating that Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were the only Republicans who can beat Barack Obama because they're doing better than other possible nominees in polls.

Please. All those polls show is that these two who ran in 2008 have higher name recognition than others who didn't. Voters will know far more about the Republican nominee in fall 2012 than they know now about any contender.

You can also find lots of articles naming Romney as the frontrunner. Again, please. Most national polls show no one getting as much as 20 percent of the primary vote. That means no one is the frontrunner.

I'm glad someone finally said it.  The lack of enthusiasm for the Republican field is palpable, and worrisome.

Romney seems sure to run and, despite the burden of his Massachusetts Romneycare program, may do better this time. Huckabee, enjoying his Fox News show, seems unlikely to run.

So does Sarah Palin. Polls show that all Republicans know her, most like her a lot and relatively few name her as their first choice. The electoral fates of Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell have been instructive. It's one thing to lose a Senate seat by nominating a candidate you love who can't win. It's another thing to lose the presidency that way.

Finally...

The presidential nomination process remains the weakest part of our political system. It's too lengthy, its rules are too capricious and giving eternal first dibs to Iowa and New Hampshire is intellectually indefensible.

But some Republican will be nominated and will face a president whose positions on issues are currently unpopular. Those who want change must hope for the best.

COMMENT:  Barone is right, in my view, on all counts.  Obama's policies are unpopular, but he retains a solid base.  I will say again that the GOP should consider skipping a generation and going to its young bench.

We forget that this is what the Dems did in 1960 in nominating Jack Kennedy.  The Democratic race for the nomination that year was filled with more experienced hands – Lyndon Johnson and Missouri Senator Stuart Symington to name but two.  And, indeed, no less a figure than former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt publicly questioned whether Kennedy was ready for the presidency.  (The incumbent, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been a five-star general.  Kennedy had been a Navy lieutenant.)

But Kennedy won the nomination, unfair and square, with fatherly money easing the way.  And, of course, he was elected president.  At least we think he was.

I have a gut feeling the GOP will eventually erupt in dissatisfaction and move to that young bench, where Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan sit.  Of course, the Republican Party erupting in anything would be big news, so we might have some enjoyment ahead.

April 27, 2011