The Race is on...

The dust has barely settled from the 2010 mid-term elections, and the pundits are already prognosticating about who will run in 2012. All of the usual suspects have been mentioned: Romney, Palin, Huckabee and Gingrich.

I've already said I think a lesser known Republican will get the nomination, like Louisiana's Bobby Jindal or Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty. It could even be a Tea Party candidate. That would be great. It's time for someone with fresh ideas.

I love to follow politics. I like all the back-and-forth fighting between the candidates. I got interested in politics while I was in college at WT. The first race I really paid attention to was the 1990 Texas governor's race. Believe it or not, I supported the Democrat in that race. It's shocking, I know, but I backed Ann Richards in the race against oilman Clayton Williams.

I couldn't stand Williams with his "Good Old Boy" approach. During the campaign, Williams made a joke likening rape to bad weather, having quipped: "If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it." He also refused to shake hands with Ann Richards during a public debate. It's one of the few times that I voted for a Democrat. Ann Richards won the election, and I thought she was a good governor.

I came to my senses when the 1992 presidential race rolled around. This time, I backed the Republican, George H.W. Bush, and I have supported the Republicans ever since. The '92 election was interesting because there were three major candidates: Bush, Clinton and Texas businessman Ross Perot.

That was the year I started working at the newspaper. I followed the race very closely because we reported so much about it in the paper, especially the allegations about Clinton's affair with Gennifer Flowers. Perot made the election exciting when he got in, then out, then back in the race.

I was working in the newsroom on election night, and that made it even more exciting for me. It was fun watching the returns come in over the AP news wire. There was no Fox News back then. We had CNN on in the newsroom, and everyone was gathered around the TV. It was a very late night as we waited on the results and then worked to get the paper out.

Clinton won the election, and we all know how that turned out. But I've been interested in politics ever since. The 2012 election promises to be exciting, too, especially if Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann decide to run and become the first female presidential candidate.

Regardless of who runs on the Republican ticket, our mission is the same: Make Obama a one-term president!