By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is in the discussion as a potential GOP presidential candidate in three years, especially since he gained national publicity for saying that healthcare reform could be President Obama's "Waterloo" and could "break" him. And he's making the rounds promoting his new book Saving Freedom which talks about what he sees as creeping socialism threatening to destroy our country. But when my colleague Andrew Burt asked him about a 2012 run, he didn't sound like he's preparing a run:
When you put all your ideas down in a book, you're less likely to be able to endure a campaign--they'll take a lot of things out of context on you. For me, the big battle between socialism and freedom comes down to this healthcare issue.
Of course as DeMint well knows writing a book is a fairly common precursor to a presidential run. Perhaps he's less worried that his ideas will be taken out of context than that they'll be taken seriously? You can read the entire interview in the current issue of our weekly digital edition.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (2)
Mark Brinton of NC 12:18PM July 26, 2009
Muser of NM 4:06PM July 24, 2009