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Alex Brandon/Associated Press Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

It’s been nearly four months since the day after the 2010 midterm elections — otherwise known as the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential campaign — but still, not one Republican candidate.

Sure, there are “hopefuls” and “those who are considering making a bid.” There are people with PACs, and some have hired a few staff members. But with the click ticking toward the first Republican presidential debate in 66 days, there seems to be a reluctance among potential candidates to make it official.

By this time four years ago, Senator John McCain of Arizona had already begun opening campaign offices around the country, had multiple consultants on retainer and was just days away from the official, glitzy relaunch of the Straight Talk Express.

(Of course, all that spending eventually doomed version 1.0 of his campaign; it wasn’t until he ditched all of that and headed to New Hampshire that the campaign took off again.)

By March 1, 2007, Fox News was already reporting on Senator Barack Obama’s connection to the reverend Jeremiah Wright. (Mr. Wright appeared on the Sean Hannity show that evening.)

At that point, Mr. Obama had been an official candidate for president for weeks, having stood in the town square in Springfield on a cold day in early February and declared, “I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.”

Of course, Mr. Obama’s big announcement was preceded by the words “I’m in,” which appeared on the Web site for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York on Jan. 20, 2007. “And I’m in to win,” she wrote. No being coy for her.

It’s all a striking — and, for political reporters — somewhat distressing contrast to the current situation, in which playing coy seems to be the name of the game.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is probably running, but declines to say so. Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, is busy with his state’s budget problems, so he has an excuse for not making a decision.

Likewise for Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. But there’s no such excuse for Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, who teases with Web videos, Facebook posts and a few staffers, but has left everyone guessing whether or not she is going to run.

Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, still works for the current administration as the ambassador to China (though he has formally handed in his resignation.) No word from him in any official way, though his people love to leave little hints.

The latest? A Web site for the Horizon PAC, with a big letter “H” as the logo. That stands for Horizon, they insist.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is taking his good old time deciding whether to make another run. He had “tea” with reporters in Washington this week, but says he’s in no rush to jump in early like he did the last time around. He told ABC that “it’s not always smart to be the first guy out of the corral and out there in the arena riding around on your pony by yourself.” On “Morning Joe” on Friday, he defended his reluctance, saying, “I’m not going to make this decision impulsively,” and added that he might not make a decision until sometime in the summer.

A few people have made a decision not to run. Senator John Thune of South Dakota announced on his Facebook page (naturally) that he’s determined that he can do more good in the Senate. Representative Mike Pence of Indiana appears to have his eye on statewide office rather than the presidency, and so he took himself out, too.

But the lack of those getting in officially — the only Republican to have formed a presidential exploratory committee is Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza — just means there is more room for people to “express interest.” Thus Donald Trump, the real estate mogul, sweeps into the Conservative Political Action Conference this month as he is “considering” a run. And Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a 2008 contender, happily notes to any interviewer who asks that he’s thinking about it, too. And the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has flirted with the idea of running before, has said he will make a decision within the next several weeks.

One potential candidate who seems to be clearly headed for a run is Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is hardly trying to hide his intentions — though he, too, has not made anything official.

Just this week, Mr. Pawlenty released a snazzy, fast-paced Web video offering his support for Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, who is waging a battle with public employees unions in his state.

The video (see below) scarcely has Mr. Pawlenty’s picture in it (until the end), but is clearly an effort to curry favor with Mr. Walker down the road.

And Mr. Pawlenty is making no secret of his desire to snatch up Tea Party support wherever he can find it. On Saturday, he will be the keynote speaker for a Tea Party conference in Phoenix.

“Governor Pawlenty will thank the Tea Party movement for their energy and passion, and give them well deserved credit for this fall’s victories,” an adviser to Mr. Pawlenty said. “The Tea Party’s efforts resulted in Nancy Pelosi losing the speaker’s gavel, and electing Republican leaders like Governors Walker, Kasich and Haley.”

The adviser added: “The Tea Party is concerned with holding a line on taxes and spending, and restoring limited government — all priorities for Governor Pawlenty. The Governor will reiterate his call to hold the line on the debt ceiling, repeal Obamacare and stand up to public employees’ unions. He’ll talk about his record of conservative success in a liberal state like Minnesota, and share stories about cutting spending and taxes, and standing up to public employees unions.”

That’s fine. But we political reporters are tired of adding “potential” or “possible” or “hopefuls” when writing about the 2012 race, so maybe he could just go ahead and announce he’s running.

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Four candidates seeking to lead the Republican National Committee delivered their pitches at an open forum on Wednesday, arguing that the party needs new direction and an aggressive focus on rebuilding a tattered fund-raising network if Republicans hope to mount a credible challenge to President Obama.

Michael Steele, the embattled Republican chairman, was not on hand for the forum at the Washington Hilton and he has yet to signal whether he plans to seek another term in January. But his controversial stewardship of the committee provided the subtext to the two-hour discussion, with the four contenders suggesting that a new course is urgently needed at the R.N.C.

“I don’t think we can count on 2012 providing the tailwind that 2010 did,” said Gentry Collins, the committee’s former political director, who resigned last month in protest of Mr. Steele’s leadership. “We have to have a chairman that can put the party’s apparatus back on track.”

Mr. Collins was among the four contenders appearing at the event sponsored by FreedomWorks, an umbrella group for Tea Party organizations. The other candidates included Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party; Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee in the final years of the Bush administration; and Ann Wagner, a former ambassador to Luxembourg and a longtime Republican leader from Missouri.

In all, at least seven Republican officials are considering running for the national party chairman, who will be chosen in January by the 168-member committee. Some of the prospective candidates say they will step aside if support coalesces around an alternative to Mr. Steele, should he decide to run.

In addition to the four Republicans who took part in the public forum on Wednesday, three additional candidates will participate in private question-and-answer sessions on Thursday. Reince Priebus, an ally of Mr. Steele’s and the general counsel of the R.N.C., is considering a run, along with Maria Cino, a former Bush administration official, and Norm Coleman, a former United States senator from Minnesota.

All of the prospective candidates have taken care not to criticize Mr. Steele by name.
“This isn’t about firing someone, this is about hiring someone,” Mr. Anuzis said, trying to make the case that Mr. Steele should be replaced. “We need a different type of leader for a different type of challenge.”

The first forum of Republican chairman’s race unfolded amid a familiar litany of complaints about the committee, including: Mr. Steele neglected many of the party’s major donors and the party failed to fully capitalize on the potential in the midterm election cycle because there was not enough money for robust voter turnout operations in all states.

“We need a strong, effective and unifying R.N.C. chair,” Ms. Wagner said. “We must restore the confidence of our donor base. We can’t just rely on all of the outside groups.”

The financial complaints were the most pointed, with the Republican National Committee ending the year in debt and unable to cover all of its obligations. Each of the candidates pledged to focus the majority of their time, if elected, on raising the estimated $400 million needed in the next election cycle.

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” Mr. Duncan said. “There’s not too much money in politics. There’s not enough money.”

The Republican National Committee is set to file its latest financial report on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The report will show that the party is steeped in debt, according to party officials familiar with the finances.

The forum, which also was sponsored by the conservative caucus of the R.N.C., also highlighted the often uneasy alliance that exists between the Tea Party movement and establishment Republicans. Several Tea Party activists traveled to Washington to question the people who are seeking to lead the committee.

Dee Armstrong, a Tea Party activist from the Blue Ridge Patriots group in West Virginia, said she was disappointed that the four Republicans did not more fully acknowledge that the Tea Party movement was responsible for the party’s midterm election success. She said she would prefer a nontraditional candidate as the next leader of the Republican Party.

“We set the brushfire,” Ms. Armstrong said. “We really brought something new to the table.”

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