Redstate's Erickson: Pence Strong for 2012

Indiana Rep. Mike Pence is one of the more obscure Republicans who may run for president in 2012. But he has the support of Redstate.com’s Erick Erickson. “I will support the nominee, whoever she or he may be,” Erickson writes on the website. “But right now I am not excited by or inspired by any of them save Sarah Palin and, as much as I love Sarah Palin, I am adamantly convinced that she cannot win given the ridiculous smears and hate thrown her way by Democrats and, frankly, by a lot of Republicans. She has been made radioactive.”

Republicans need someone who can bridge the gap between the establishment and grassroots activists, Erickson says. “The odds are surely against Congressmen. But I think Mike Pence could do it. … He has a private sector background that shines in comparison to anything Barack Obama ever did before elected politics. He has the free market think tank background to reassure fiscal conservatives. He has the social conservative bona fides to reassure the social conservatives who, this year, feel marginalized.”