GOP Field Looking More Mainstream
Pence running for governor.
Palin too damaged.
Bachmann too far-fetched.
Ron Paul too sinister.
Gingrich experimenting with "moderation."
Huckabee committed to private life.
Trump laughed off the stage.
Rubio refusing a draft.
Romney's conservative credentials revoked by the Wall Street Journal and National Review.
It's not just the potential Republican field that is thinning out. It is the once-crowded conservative portion of that field.
Of the remaining major candidates, only one - Pawlenty - is positioning himself as a Tea Party style Republican. Romney, Huntsman, and Daniels (if the latter two do decide to run) are positioned as "Main Street Republicans" in the Pew taxonomy: conservative yes, but governance minded rather than protest minded.
The winnowing of the conservative field sets up a potentially fascinating test of strength, and raises the question: have conservative pundits fallen victim to their own myth-making?