After Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) said he would decide on his election plans by the end of January, the movement to recruit him into the presidential race has moved into high gear. The recently-formed American President Committee launched a “Draft Pence” campaign and a group of Republican legislators from the critical primary state of South Carolina have organized a similar effort to lure the Indiana Congressman into a presidential run. Pence, who won the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit straw poll, has recently been spearheading anti-choice legislation and trashing President Obama. David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network believes that Pence’s energetic support from both the Religious Right and pro-corporate conservatives may turn him “into the ‘Madonna’ of 2012” and predicts that “Evangelicals who don’t know about him may soon fall in love.”

Mike Pence could become the “Madonna” of 2012. Remember the 1980s movie “Desperately Seeking Susan?” starring the pop icon? (Oy, I may be dating myself.) Well, there is a political movement out there that we might want to start calling, “Desperately Seeking Pence” … [W]e should know in the next couple of weeks what Pence plans to do. If he runs, he becomes a legitimate dark horse with a huge upside to surprise a lot of people. He may be the Mike Huckabee of 2012. Evangelicals who know Pence love him. Evangelicals who don’t know about him may soon fall in love.

One South Carolina legislator claimed that Pence could “lead this nation back from the precipice of socialism where we find ourselves today.”