Más que simples congresistas

Los miembros de la Cámara de Representantes rara vez alcanzan a aproximarse a la nominación presidencial. Pero Aaron Blake (Washington Post) cree que Newt Gingrich, Mike Pence o Michele Bachmann pueden ser una excepción porque cuentan con un perfil nacional que les permite tener mayor proyección que algunos gobernadores o senadores. No son los "Duncan Hunter" de 2012.

(...) Would it really be that hard for Gingrich, Pence or Bachmann to win the GOP nomination?

Not necessarily.

First of all, what this history tells us is that it's tough to build a presidential campaign with such a small base of electoral and fundraising support.

House members generally haven't had to raise huge sums of money to win reelection in their districts, which means they don't have the depth of financial support to sustain a national campaign. It's tough to put together such a big organization together on the fly -- a big reason why House members haven't been able to keep their momentum in the few instances they've attained it.

Second, House members rarely come into the race with a national profile. It's much easier to get lost in the crowd when you're one of 435 members of the House versus being one of 100 senators or one of 50 governors.
Having said all that, it's not clear that any of it applies to Gingrich, Pence and Bachmann.

All three of them have built profiles well beyond that of a normal House member -- Gingrich as a big-name Republican thinker and Pence and Bachmann as leading voices in the fiscal conservative and tea party circles, respectively.

Gingrich, in particular, has used his time outside of Congress to escape the day-to-day political battles and build a reputation as something bigger than just a former House speaker.

As for fundraising, it could pose a barrier to Pence, who has never been a big money man and would need to really ramp things up, but Gingrich and Bachmann both appear to have what it takes to get off the ground in a presidential race.

Bachmann, you may recall, raised an astounding $13 million for her House reelection campaign in 2010. Whether she could replicate and build on that take in the context of a presidential race is a bit harder to know but she would start with a solid fundraising base.

Gingrich, meanwhile, raised more money through his political action committee after the November election than any potential presidential candidate not named Sarah Palin. What's more, he's been raising millions for years through his 527 organization, which doesn't follow federal campaign finance rules -- meaning he can accept unlimited donations -- but still shows his fundraising prowess. (...)