Hasslington's Republican To Watch Over The Next Several Years: U.S. Senator John Thune

(In my previous post, which can be found directly below this one, I wrote about an American Democratic politician who I think may play an increasingly large national and international role over the next several years. Today, I am writing about an American Republican politician who may play a similarly increasingly large national and international role over the next several years....)

It genuinely surprises me that U.S. Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, has been virtually ignored in both the press and the blog-o-sphere over the last year or so, particularly given the fact that he was quite well-positioned to become Senator John McCain's running mate during the 2008 presidential campaign season. As it turned out, however, when potential McCain running mates were scrutinized, a lot more folks focused on people such as former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and ultimately Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who was eventually selected to be Senator McCain's running mate). I focused on Governor Palin in particular, and I went so far as to suggest that Senator McCain would indeed select her to be his running mate.

Though I was right about Governor Palin, I also focused on the possibility that Senator Thune might be selected for the aforementioned role (at one point, I put him just behind Governor Palin as the #2 possibility to be selected), mostly because of how his relative youth (at present, he is forty-eight years old, and he looks youger than that) and relative conservative values (social and fiscal) would have contrasted well with Senator McCain's "maverick," bi-partisan trademark. (Senator McCain's "maverick" status has since been muddied, though probably not beyond recovery, in the wake of his wobbly and clench-fistedly conservative presidential campaign.) That Senator Thune is from the Midwest might also have contrasted well with, and complimented, Senator McCain's status as a senator from the Southwest.

Senator Thune is well-spoken in televised interviews, during which he tends to be not only oddly convincing in his smoothly-delivered arguments to those (like me) who might otherwise disagree with a number of his conservative stances, but also strangely compelling due to what appears to be his genuinely quiet, calm manner. Might these be some of the reasons why South Dakotans selected him over incumbent Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004, which was the first time in a long, long time that such a powerful member of the U.S. senate lost a re-election bid? (Conservative leaders and commentators still celebrate Senator Thune's rather remarkable win.) And might these be some of the reasons why murmurs are finally starting to gather in rather quiet corners of the internet regarding the possibility that he might run for president in 2012 or 2016?

Up to this point, Senator Thune has managed to come across as both a genuine conservative and a genuinely decent fellow most all of the time, though this may have something to do with the fact that, though he serves on a number of important senate committees (such as the Armed Services Committee), his work has been conducted in a rather under-the-radar manner so far; his profile might simply not be high enough to challenge the accepted notion that he is a well-liked and genuinely pragmatic guy. (He simply fits the role of "young, clean-cut conservative," which has thus far seemed to serve him well with his colleagues and the few elements of the press who have paid attention to him.) When his profile rises, as it is bound to do, it will be interesting to see if he can, and if he will, sustain this image.

Senator Thune may run for the U.S. presidency in 2012. Yet given his age, he could also easily wait to run for president until the 2016 election cycle if it looks as though President Obama will cruise to re-election in 2012. One way or the other, he may very well find himself on a Republican presidential ticket in either 2012 or 2016. He may even be at the top of one of those tickets.