Has President Obama and his White House P.R. team created a monster in Minority Leader John Boehner? Just consider this: Boehner is now the fourth most likely GOP presidential candidate behind Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee to win the 2012 Republican nomination, according to Ireland's biggest betting site.
Up until about a month ago, Boehner was not a household political name, but that was before the president started to single the Ohio congressman out as the White House struggled to put a face on the Republicans going into the fall elections. That effort has recently reached its height, with Obama mentioning Boehner in speeches. Over the weekend, Boehner's press office and the White House press secretary issued dueling statements over what the minority leader meant when he said on TV that he would vote for a package that wouldn't extend the Bush-era tax cuts to those making over $250,000, though he called it bad policy.
All of that focus on Boehner seems to have raised his profile so much that he's now being mentioned as a presidential candidate in some polls. For his part, Boehner has not talked about the White House, saying that his life goal has been instead to become speaker of the House.
But according to Paddy Power, the Irish sports betting site, Boehner now is an 8-1 shot for the GOP nomination. He's a 20-1 shot to win the presidency. Of course, he'd have to knock off the front-runner, Mitt Romney, and 4-1 favorite Sarah Palin who herself has surged in the betting odds due to her recent successes with political endorsements and stage-sharing with Fox's Glenn Beck.
Paddy Power said in a statement that "Sarah Palin is obviously playing her cards quite close to her chest but recent betting trends suggest that people believe she may just be the shot in the arm needed by the Republicans."
Still, despite his poor public approval ratings and the focus on Republicans in the midterm elections, Paddy Power still has Obama the odds on favorite to win reelection in 2012.
Paddy Power Betting Odds for the 2012 Republican Primaries
11/4 Mitt Romney
9/2 Sarah Palin
6/1 Mike Huckabee
8/1 John Boehner
8/1 Tim Pawlenty
8/1 John Thune
12/1 Newt Gingrich
12/1 Haley Barbour
12/1 Mitch Daniels
14/1 David Petraeus
16/1 Fred Thompson
16/1 Bill Owens
16/1 Bobby Jindal
16/1 Jon Huntsman
18/1 Chuck Hagel
20/1 Rudolph Giuliani
20/1 Jeb Bush
20/1 Lindsey Graham
20/1 Chuck Baldwin
20/1 Scott Brown
25/1 Tom Ridge
25/1 Ron Paul
33/1 John McCain
33/1 Condoleezza Rice
33/1 George Allen
33/1 John Ensign
33/1 Paul Ryan
33/1 Rand Paul
40/1 George Pataki
40/1 Bill Frist
50/1 Sam Brownback
50/1 Arnold Schwarzenegger
100/1 Dick Cheney
500/1 Laura Bush
Odds on the winner of the 2012 presidential election
8/11 Barack Obama
6/1 Mitt Romney
10/1 Sarah Palin
16/1 Hillary Clinton
18/1 Mike Huckabee
18/1 Tim Pawlenty
20/1 John Boehner
25/1 Bobby Jindal
25/1 Newt Gingrich
25/1 Haley Barbour
25/1 Mitch Daniels
28/1 Jon Huntsman
33/1 Joe Biden
33/1 Fred Thompson
33/1 Bill Owens
33/1 David Petraeus
33/1 Chuck Hagel
33/1 Rick Perry
40/1 Evan Bayh
40/1 Rudolph Giuliani
40/1 Jeb Bush
40/1 Lindsey Graham
40/1 Michael Bloomberg
40/1 Chuck Baldwin
50/1 Tom Ridge
50/1 Ron Paul
50/1 Arnold Schwarzenegger
66/1 John McCain
66/1 Al Gore
66/1 Condoleezza Rice
66/1 John Edwards
66/1 George Allen
66/1 Mark Warner
66/1 Caroline Kennedy
66/1 Rand Paul
80/1 Bill Frist
80/1 George Pataki
100/1 John Kerry
100/1 Jim Webb
100/1 Kathleen Sebelius
100/1 Tim Kaine
100/1 Sam Brownback
100/1 Janet Napolitano
100/1 Paul Ryan
- Read more about the 2012 presidential election.
- See a slide show of 11 hot races in November.
- Follow the money in Congress.
Reader Comments Read all comments (7)
Pat Ross of MA 8:25AM December 13, 2010
L. Fletcher of NC 4:11PM September 21, 2010
mj of IN 3:58PM September 13, 2010