Where are the 2012 Republicans?

By this point in the last election cycle, many of the GOP candidates had already declared their candidacy. With the first debate scheduled for April, why has no one officially entered the race?

Mitt Romney is one of the Republicans who's "almost certain" to throw his hat into the 2012 presidential ring.
(Image credit: Getty)

Four years ago last week, Barack Obama announced his intention to run for president by forming an exploratory committee, but he was hardly the first to throw his hat in the ring, notes David Weigel in Slate. By this point in 2007, the list of committed Republican candidates included John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul, plus a handful of more obscure candidates. This year, "not even dark horse candidates like Herman Cain or John Bolton have announced anything yet." Why is no one officially prepared to challenge President Obama? (Watch a local report about some of the rumored candidates)

Uncertainty is breeding caution: "The Republican race is starting slowly," says Dan Balz in The Washington Post, because, although there are a "handful of almost-certain candidates" — Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty — [there's] no clear front-runner or "candidate to beat." At least for now, "everyone can be a dreamer," and nobody has to commit.

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