Ryun Leads Push To ‘Draft Pence for President’

A grassroots movement launched Monday is pushing Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to run for president in 2012.

America’s President Committee, led by former Congressman Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), launched its online effort at TheConservativeChampion.org.

Pence is a favorite among some conservatives, winning the straw poll at the Family Research Council’s Values Voters summit – an annual gathering of social conservatives – last September.

Pence, formerly the third ranking Republican in the House GOP caucus, announced his resignation from that leadership position on Nov. 3, 2010, the day after the midterm election. At the time, he said that he had “begun to look to the future” and decided he would not be able to fulfill his leadership duties over the next two years.

The move sparked rumors that Pence, after winning the Values Voters straw poll, was mulling a White House bid. But Pence hinted that he would rather run for the Indiana governor’s office.

The draft-Pence movement hopes to change the congressman’s mind by demonstrating that he has the support he’d need for a serious 2012 presidential run.

“America’s President Committee [APC] today kicks off a national grassroots signature drive urging conservatives and tea party members to sign a declaration encouraging Mr. Pence to run for President,” the group said in an early-Monday news release.

“Throughout his distinguished career, Mike Pence has demonstrated the ability to enthusiastically advance the cause of conservatives and constitutional, limited government, and for that reason I am encouraging him to get in the race,” said Ryun.

Ralph Benko, a former Reagan administration deputy counsel who helps Ryun run the APC, said that Pence’s ability to unite the three traditional areas of conservatism – fiscal, foreign policy, and social – make him an ideal candidate for the nation’s newly energized conservatives.

“Mike Pence describes himself as ‘First a Christian, then a conservative, then a Republican.’ He unifies fiscal, social, and national security conservatives, and will energize the conservative coalition essential to winning back The White House in 2012,” Benko said in the release.

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