Reunión de la RGA en San Diego

Entre hoy y mañana se celebra en San Diego, California, la conferencia anual de la Republican Governors Association (RGA). Participarán varios posibles candidatos presidenciales: Barbour, Pawlenty, Daniels, Christie y Jindal, entre otros. También se tratará la posición a tomar ante las próximas elecciones a la presidencia nacional del Partido Republicano, y varios posibles sustitutos de Michael Steele mantendrán reuniones con los Gobernadores.

El Gobernador Rick Perry, de Texas, será nombrado nuevo presidente de la RGA, sucediendo a Barbour, lo que le descartaría como candidato presidencial porque de otro modo no hubiera aceptado la responsabilidad y tendrá que ocuparse de las elecciones a Gobernador en Louisiana, Kentucky y Mississippi que tendrán lugar en otoño de 2011.

(...) At least five possible GOP '12 presidential contenders and a trio of newly elected women governors will share the spotlight here today at the Republican Governors Association's annual conference, where Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be formally elected to head the group.

Perry, who succeeds Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour as RGA chairman, is also flogging a new book, "Fed Up: Our Fight to Save America From Washington," as is Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty (author of the forthcoming "Courage to Stand: An American Story") and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal (whose own new tome is "Leadership and Crisis"). Barbour, Pawlenty, Jindal, the so-far-bookless Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, and RGA guest panelist Newt Gingrich are all rumored to be seriously considering a White House run.

(...) Governors-elect Nikki Haley of South Carolina, the country's first Indian-American governor, New Mexico's Susana Martinez, the first Hispanic woman to be elected governor, and Oklahoma's Mary Fallin, who drew national notice for "playing the mommy card'' against her childless female opponent, are also scheduled to attend the meeting, where a main topic of conversation will be whether gaffe-prone Michael Steele should have a second term running the Republican National Committee; Barbour has already said flatly that he should be replaced.

Perry, the Texas governor who was easily elected to a third term earlier this month, effectively took himself off the list of presidential aspirants by accepting the job as top fundraiser for the committee. He will also be heavily involved in the three gubernatorial contests in 2011 -- in Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky.

(...) Other governors scheduled to attend the meetings in San Diego include Utah's Gary Herbert, Arizona's Jan Brewer, Nebraska's Dave Heineman, Hawaii's Linda Lingle, Georgia's Sonny Perdue, Vermont's Jim Douglas, South Dakota's Mike Rounds, New Jersey's Chris Christie, Rhode Island's Don Carcieri, Puerto Rico's Luis Fortuno, Idaho's Butch Otter, Virginia's Bob McDonnell, Alabama's Bob Riley, and South Carolina's Mark Sanford, who despite having recovered from his scandal, according to the New York Times, is not scheduled to attend the press briefings.

Newly elected incoming governors who've said they will be here include Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett, Georgia's Nathan Deal, Florida's Rick Scott, Tennessee's Bill Haslam, Ohio's John Kasich, Wisconsin's Scott Walker, South Dakota's Dennis Daugaard, Wyoming's Matt Mead, Nevada's Brian Sandoval, Michigan's Rick Snyder, Alabama's Robert Bentley and Maine's Paul LePage. (...)