UPDATE: Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring says Palin was invited to join the group, but they haven't heard back.
The group is meant to highlight promising GOP presidential candidate. It includes John McCain and Mr. Volcano in Louisiana. It doesn't include Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich, two of the top GOP presidential candidates in 2012, or Michael Steele, the head of the RNC and himself a potential GOP presidential candidate.
The lawmakers' group includes Jeb Bush, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain....McCain and Bush, promising presidential candidates in 2012? Is there nothing new in this party, ever? But more important, the GOP civil war is alive and well.
Notably absent from either group's rosters are the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has his own policy group. Others mentioned as potential 2012 candidates and missing are South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, although the latter is a close McCain ally.
