John Thune 'Likely' to Run for President in 2012

Add another name to the list of Republican contenders in 2012: John Thune, the South Dakota senator probably best known for defeating Tom Daschle in 2004. The 49-year-old gets anointed via the cover treatment in the Weekly Standard, telling Stephen Hayes for a lengthy profile that he's taking a "very full look at it." Friends say they'd be surprised if he doesn't run.

He is "likely" to do so, writes Hayes. "If he wins the nomination, it will be because he is an exceptionally skilled retail politician who can communicate a kind of midwestern, common sense conservatism that is ascendant in reaction to liberal profligacy." But it doesn't help that he has "virtually no national profile" and voted for TARP. See other stories about Thune, including a flattering David Brooks column, here.
(More John Thune stories.)