GOP strategist Karl Rove claimed on Fox News Monday night that nobody in the potential field of contenders seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 had entered "front-runner" status, not even any of the five possible candidates that are employed by that network.
"There is no front-runner in Iowa, and there's no front-runner in America, and we should welcome that," Rove told Sean Hannity. "If you take a look at the several polls that have been done so far, there are four candidates who tend to be towards the top -- the better-known candidates -- but none of them above 20 percent. In fact, those four candidates grouped essentially together between 15 and 20 percent each and then everybody else in the single digits."
Rove continued:
"That means this contest is going to be wide open, and that's going to be good for conservatives and good for the Republicans."
(Check out polls on the 2012 GOP presidential primary at HuffPost Pollster)
Rove spoke similarly on the matter last week, as he tried to combat criticism that has been directed at him by Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee for supposed GOP elitism in the candidate selection process.
After saying that nobody was going to keep either of them from launching a campaign for the White House in 2012, Rove concluded:
"I think it would be healthy for the party for us to have everybody jump in, and let them go out there and spend the next year making the case for themselves and making the case against President Obama and let people know what they got and show them that they can unite the party and reach outside the party like Ronald Reagan did."
WATCH via GOP 12: