Potential Republican Presidential candidate, John Thune

I ran into Congressman Jimmy Duncan in the hall of the Capitol and we had a little chat.

Duncan is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, a savvy politician who is completely honest and to the untrained eye, just an awe-shucks, country lawyer type of person.

Duncan has taken some tough votes in his career.  He votes against pretty much all spending bills and he voted against the Iraq War, votes that in hindsight look pretty smart.  He is an old-time conservative, but he isn’t one to beat his own chest or pontificate too much.

Anyway, I asked Mr. Duncan what he thought about the upcoming election, and he was upbeat.  He told me that he hasn’t seen this kind of excitement from the Republican base since 1994.  He said that each year he hosts a big event for his campaign in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.  He typically gets around 500 hundred to show up, but in 1994, Newt Gingrich drew 1200.

This year, he told me he invited John Thune.  And guess what?  Thune is expected to match Newt’s total from sixteen years ago.  Read more...