George Will: Making Presidential Race A Referendum On GOP Nominee Is “Barack Obama’s Best Hope”

After getting the big scoop on Tim Pawlenty‘s departure from the Republican race, ABC’s Jake Tapper turned the focus to fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann, and asked if she would be “unelectable” at the national level.

Given that Pawlenty and John McCain did better in Bachmann’s congressional district than the congresswoman herself, Tapper wondered if the Republican establishment was right to worry that if she won the party nomination, Bachmann would not be able to win a general election against Barack Obama.

Panelist George Will suggested this is exactly what the president and his reelection team want to happen over the next year.

Barack Obama’s best hope is the Republican nominating electorate. He does not want this to be a referendum on his record, he wants it to be a referendum on the fitness for office of the Republican nominee.

Will then turned his attention to a possible showdown between Bachmann and Rick Perry to court the evangelical vote, and suggested that Texas would be a key state to win for any candidate. Putting it simply, “Texas is to the Republicans what California is to the Democrats.” Will pointed out that Texans have been on the presidential ticket in six of the last eight elections, so it could very well prove to be a key state for Republicans going forward.

Watch video of the segment below, courtesy of ABC:

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