Election 2012 Has Unofficially Begun

 We haven't had any formal announcements from Republican candidates yet-- and it appears that we may have to wait a while from that. We've heard rumblings on who will run and it appears to be a fair share of people-- but only one can get the nomination. It would appear that non-official exploratory committees are already formed and people like Romney, Pawlenty, and others are criss-crossing the country, particularly to Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

So let's take a look at some of the signs of the start of the 2012 Presidential Cycle:

• Robert Gibbs is leaving the White House-- and the reason, at least according to him, is very clear. Gibbs and Obama say that the Press Secretary will begin working on the efforts for Obama's reelection. While this move could be expected eventually, it appears to be coming before any announcements by GOP candidates. So the White House is scared or just being proactive. Either way it gives them a boost.
• Minnesota's Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has been making some quiet waves, but not so quiet that they could not be detected. He's served as Governor for two fairly successful terms and after deciding not to run for a third it becomes more apparent that he's running for the White House. The Atlantic has noticed his impressive table-setting:
  
  The now-ex-governor has set up state-level PACs in Iowa and New Hampshire, a presidential power move that will let him raise, donate, and otherwise curry favor with state-level pols in those important primary states.
  
  Pawlenty has undertaken a busy travel schedule, which drew the ire of Minnesota liberals who accused him of being an absent governor. He's visited Florida and South Carolina and made multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire.
  
  Next Tuesday he'll release a book, "Courage to Stand" ( via Tyndale House, a Christian publishing firm), which means more travel yet. His primary-flavored book tour will include stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, and Ohio.
•  Of course, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has accepted two important slots on television lately. One is as a new FoxNews paid contributor, the other in her TLC miniseries Sarah Palin's Alaska. That's not to mention her two books and signings across the country.
• Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, has been making quite a stir the last year or so. One was a book and now he is appearing more and more on FoxNews. He has been traveling the country, including to South Carolina with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
• Santorum has been making waves himself. Of course, he's heading to South Carolina and also knocked former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.

While he said he agreed that states are legally allowed to pass such provisions, Santorum said he still didn’t like the Massachusetts law referred to derisively as “Romneycare” by some of the former governor’s critics on the right. “I’m with him in the sense he had the right to do it, the states have a right to do it,” Santorum said. “But I don’t think it was the right thing to do.”

• Romney is making a name for himself as well. Not only has he created a MySpace page, he will also be appearing on the View in not too long, as will Pawlenty. Romney has also made some waves placing op-eds in the USA Today on the START treaty and the new tax policy, criticizing both of Obama's positions. Romney's run before and knows how the road works-- he may not be any stronger in the 2012 race but it's unlikely that he's weaker.
• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee may be another to watch after. He's also been traveling the country and has a weekend talk show on FoxNews. He's been pretty vocal and appears to be among the most popular of the GOP potential candidates. Huckabee actually leads in some metrics in polling, which may make him a decent starter candidate. He's popular in the South and is not terribly unpopular in the other regions of the country. He's also started an anti-ObamaCare Political Action Committee, sure to earn him some points with both conservatives and moderates.

Of course there are other potential candidates like Ron Paul, Eric Cantor, Michelle Bachmann, Haley Barbour, and others. But it appears that these above have made some pretty concrete moves to run for the White House, if only for a little while. The White House's preemptive strategy shows the shrewdness that the GOP should expect from Obama-- and should adapt to if they would like to win in 2012.
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