FreedomWorks chair Dick Armey didn’t hesitate when he was asked on Fox News today to weigh in on the 2012 presidential race. There’s one man, Armey said, who can unite the fractured GOP. One man who can bring back Morning In America.
“I always thought I’d only get one Ronald Reagan in my lifetime,” Armey said. “Maybe Mike Pence could be that second one.”
Pence, a Republican Congressman from Indiana, has long been the choice of conservatives like Armey. Pence’s name often pops up at tea party rallies, and the social conservatives at the Values Voter Summit last September chose Pence as their 2012 choice in a straw poll.
For his part, Pence has been extra coy about his future intentions. There are many signs out there that Pence will forgo the presidential stakes in favor of a run for governor of Indiana, though Team Pence has allowed the POTUS talk to continue.
Pence faces a self-imposed deadline at the end of this month to announce what, if anything, he’ll run for in 2012.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Meet The 2012 GOPers: Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)]
It’s clear what Armey hopes Pence will choose to do.
“Mike Pence can bring the whole spectrum of constitutional, social and economic conservatives together,” Armey said on Fox today. “They will rally behind his candidacy.”
Watch Armey effervesce at the thought of Pence For President:
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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