“Even some of Bolton’s admirers might not support a presidential run. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told POLITICO he’s a ‘big John Bolton fan,’ lavishing praise: ‘He pushes the envelope, he typically turns out to be accurate, he reminds people about the bottom-line realities of what a tough and dangerous world this is. John was covered in quicksand [at the U.N.] and still spoke truth to power.’

“But as for running for president, Fleischer said, ‘I hope he doesn’t do that. John has great intellectual firepower, but he’s never run for office before, and, as a matter of principle, I don’t like symbolic runs for the presidency.’

“Fleischer said flatly that Bolton was ‘not ready to be president’ and would therefore be a sort of vanity candidate. ‘I just don’t see this as real or credible,’ he added.

“Former Bush National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe agreed with the idea that a Bolton candidacy would be too niche to break into the mainstream. ‘He appeals to a very narrow constituency in the Republican Party, primarily because he is solely focused on foreign policy,’ Johndroe said. ‘Voters look for a president who can walk and chew gum at the same time — get the economy going and deal with problems overseas.'”

***
“I hear similar things from Romney supporters (or people trying to convince themselves to be Romney supporters) with remarkable frequency. Yes, the argument runs, Romney seems serially insincere, and nearly every position he stakes out comes across as a blatant (and often inconsistent-looking) pander to a conservative electorate that regards him with suspicion. But there are good ideas concealed within the pandering — you just have to know where to look! And in your heart, you know he’s a smart guy who’d make a solid center-right president — wonkish, detail-oriented, sensible on policy, all the rest of it. He’s just a prisoner of the process! And heck, maybe his transparent insincerity is even a virtue: It shows that try as he might, he can’t give himself over completely to the carnival of a primary campaign, because he’s fundamentally too sober and serious to be a carnival barker. (He’s no Palin, is the implication …) Even when he’s mid-pander, you always know that he knows that it’s all just a freak show, and you can always sense that he’d rather be at a policy seminar somewhere, instead of just forking red meat. There’s a highly competent chief executive trapped inside his campaign persona, in other words, and the only way to liberate him is to put him in the White House!

“This is an … unusual argument. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong: There were probably people who said the same thing about George H.W. Bush during his lackluster 1988 race — and he did turn out to be a reasonably good president, all things considered. But there’s still an element of absurdity about it. I believe that Mitt Romney is a more serious person, and would probably be a better president, than his campaign style suggests. But issue by issue, policy by policy, that same campaign style makes it awfully hard to figure out where he would actually stand when the pandering stops and the governing begins. In the last couple years, Romney has taken high-profile positions that I agree with (opposing the G.M. bailout), high-profile positions that I disagree with (opposing the START Treaty), and high-profile positions on issues I’m uncertain about (the current tax deal). But because everything he does feels like a pander, I don’t know where he really stands on any of them. And freak show or no freak show, base or no base, that’s no way to run for president.”

***
“A slim 8 percent of all registered voters say they would definitely vote for Palin for president, while 31 percent say they would consider doing so. Fully 60 percent say they definitely would not. Among all Americans, 59 percent say they would not vote for her, up from 53 percent in November 2009.

“Even among Republicans, Palin has detractors, with 29 percent saying they would definitely not back her candidacy. Her highest support comes from Republican women and conservative Republicans. Even so, only about one in five in each group say they would certainly support her presidential bid.

“Neither does Palin enjoy wide support among independents: 62 percent say they definitely would not vote for her. Among moderates, 66 percent write off her prospective candidacy.”