Elite Eight for '08 #1: Governor Haley Barbour

Over the next few weeks, I'll break down some of the prospective Presidential Candidates for the Republican Party in 2008. Don't hesitate to leave your comments below!


Governor Haley Barbour (MS)

Credentials: Governor, Mississippi, Former Political Director for the Reagan White House and Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993-1997.

Pros:A Reagan Republican with executive level experience. Need more? How about the fact that the base knows who he is. He also has a lights-out record as the governor of Mississippi: he erased a $700 million dollar deficit without raising taxes, and weathered Katrina (both literally and figuratively) by successfully displacing over 100,000 people with minimal disruption (with temporary facilities such as schools and medical facilities up and running almost immediately) - a record which earned him the award as the Nation's Most Outstanding Governor in 2006 by Governing Magazine (an independent publication based out of Washington DC).

Cons: He has already said that he will be running for reelection as governor in 2007 (Mississippi has odd year elections). He also has a southern accent. Bill Clinton having an accent as governor of Arkansas with his Illinois attorney wife is one thing; Haley Barbour with an accent coming from the same state as Trent Lott is another.