Jim DeMint Might Run in 2012 if There’s No Suitable Conservative in the Race

My Christmas list this year: (3) New iPad with two, count ‘em, two cameras; (2) field-level tickets to the Pro Bowl, natch; (1) Palin/DeMint primary showdown.

Winner gets the nomination, loser gets the keynote address at RINOcon. Let’s do this.

But the ground may be shifting in DeMint-world, and several of his closest advisers and political confidantes are now telling CNN that he is at least open to a presidential bid if a suitably conservative candidate fails to emerge from the early and wide-open GOP field…

“He hasn’t completely shut the door on running, and if there is a massive void in the group of candidates, who knows what could happen?,” said the adviser, who was quick to caution that there is only a five percent chance the senator will run.

Aside from Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, who is currently deciding between a presidential run and a gubernatorial bid in his home state, DeMint’s advisers are having a difficult time envisioning a candidate that he could get behind…

Peter Brown, a prominent South Carolina donor and a member of DeMint’s kitchen cabinet, predicted that DeMint could warm to the idea of a White House bid as the rest of the field takes shape. Brown said potential candidates like Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich are failing to generate any kind of broad excitement among conservatives.

[link to hotair.com]