GOP convention stars: Out with the old, in with the new

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages, Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

(CBS News) TAMPA, Fla. - As Republican leaders and state delegates trickled into the Tampa Bay Times Forum here Monday to get a lay of the land where they'll officially nominate the next GOP presidential candidate this week, the breakout superstar of the party's 2008 convention was serving baked beans at an Arizona barbecue dive.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, who was the party's last vice presidential nominee and stunned the scene by acing her convention speech even after the teleprompter malfunctioned, announced two weeks ago she would not be attending this year's convention. Having flirted - for months longer than any other serious contender - with a presidential bid herself, Palin opted to channel her celebrity into a campaign event for Arizona congressional candidate Kirk Adams. Or, more likely, GOP nominee Mitt Romney simply didn't invite her.

Either way, after just a few short years dominating the media spotlight and electrifying crowds of thousands with her iconic brand of grassroots conservatism, Sarah Palin's moment seems to have passed.

She's not alone: The 2008 convention lineup featured speakers like Tim Pawlenty - twice now an almost-VP nominee - and Rep. Michele Bachmann, relatively fresh faces tasked with helping build the party's next generation. It was a nice contrast to the old guard of Republicans dominating the schedule: Fred Thompson, Sens. Tom Coburn and Lindsay Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and the nominee, Sen. John McCain. But four years later, Pawlenty and Bachmann have been left with one failed presidential bid each. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, another 2008 up-and-comer, has yet to find his opening to really shine.

Enter Chris Christie, the N.J. governor made famous by his refusal to hold back remarks - vulgar or otherwise - who delivered this year's convention keynote address Tuesday night and is largely expected to test a run of a his own in 2016.

"He's it - he's the rising star of the party," said Mary Beth Dougherty, a Pennsylvania delegate who originally supported Rick Santorum. Dougherty said it's Christie's "brutal honesty" that makes for both an exciting political character and an appealing elected official. "I'd love to be able to support him as a presidential candidate in the future. He tells it as it is; he says what he wants to do and he does it."

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[varigdc10]

The 'NEW" GOP stuff is the same "OLD" GOP stuf that will not work, give me a break.

[JV1970]

Obama has had nearly four years to make his "stuff" work and it hasn't worked either!

[josephp5]

Republicans alternate between being out of office and complaining that government is the problem, and being in office making government the problem.

[josephp5]

THE DEBT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH UNEMPLOYMENT.

[signseeker1717]

You're right - it doesn't. This country has been in debt most of it's history. These are the main problems:

Stagnant wages and not enough discretionary income for the middle class. Too much money hoarded by corporations and wealthy individuals gorging themselves on tax shelters and sitting on mountain ranges of cash.

Not enough INVESTMENT in our people and our country, and too much unbridled greed. Simple...

[bluejacket2-2009]

@Sd92040... The United States has been in debt since 1776.... The problem is the annual deficit which was a surplus (under Clinton)when Republican George W Bush stole the election in 2000.. If Romney wins this election he and Ryan will do more than balance the annual budget, they will destroy all of the social success's gained over the last 80 years for the common citizen and return the USA to 1930 Hoover economics when the rich were the only ones with any money.. Obama has saved the nation from GW Bush and Republican trickledown economics, but it takes time to heal the deep wounds suffered under 8 years of Republican government.

[bluejacket2-2009]

Ryan will be dust in 2016 just as Palin is dust now... Paul Ryan is smoking to much tobacco if he thinks the American people will give up Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to ensure Wall Street corporations and American millionaire's maintain their wealth. He's not much better than Palin but very close.

[SD92040]

so what happens when we can't borrow any more money, like the situation in California?

[josephp5]

SD92040: There are many ways to ensure that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security stay healthy and solvent (one would be to raise the wage base slightly).

But Republicans don't really want to "save" Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They have been trying to eliminate these programs since they were created; they are just hyping up the current problems as an excuse to destroy them like they have always wanted.

[TimeToEvolve]

Don't worry about what we are going to complain about. We have over 30 years of failed Reaganomics to roll back. And after the last Republicon administration put Reaganomics on steroids and pushed us off a cliff, we have even more to do.

[AOCGUY]

Who said I was worried? But maybe, just maybe you folks could channel some of that energy into changing the makeup of congress where the real power should lie. Of course the critters in congress are so dysfunctional they couldn't pass gas.

[AOCGUY]

What the heck are you guys gonna ***** about after the election?

[AOCGUY]

OK Let me rephrase that so the CBS Morons wont be offended.

What the heck are you guys gonna [complain] about after the election? That better CBS?

[Solarrays247]

It doesn't matter if they're old or new...they're all just a bunch of functional psychopaths, just like their leader, Mittens Rmoney.

[TimeToEvolve]

It is mostly the red states who get all the welfare (besides the rich folk on Wall Street). And they love to vote against their own interests. They support Republicons who hate them because they are poor and uneducated. But will continue to vote for them. OMG, what happened to our brains?

[harv823]

Exactly! Like you say, the Republican Party hurts the MIddle Class and Poor that vote Republican. The 1% wealthy, though, do just fine.

[TimeToEvolve]

Robbed Me says that Obama has failed to create jobs which is a blatant lie. And his ideas of jobs are race-to-the-bottom jobs at big corporations like Bain's Staples and Outback Steakhouse.

The Republicon party wants to radically change America to serve the rich at the expense of the rest of us. It's just that simple.