The Invisible Primary, 1/8

Tracking the GOP race to 2012

According to National Journal's Political Insiders Poll (subscription required--see full results in this month's issue of National Journal), Republican insiders say Mitt Romney (81%) is most likely to get the GOP nomination in 2012, while Tim Pawlenty (46%) ranks second and John Thune (28% ranks third); Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum will speak at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC in Feburary; Sarah Palin won't speak there, since CPAC doesn't pay; she will speak at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans in April, along with Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Jindal, and Haley Barbour; Palin will also speak at the Phil Waldrep Ministries' "Women of Joy" Conference in Louisville, Kentucky in April; and Eric Cantor says U.S. airlines should do things more like Israeli airline El Al.