Posted on 03/01/2012 10:10:40 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I’ve been struck, in the aftermath of Michigan and Arizona, by how many political journalists have made arguments like the following from New York’s John Heilemann, which emphasizes Mitt Romney’s continued weakness and vulnerability:
… the shirts versus skins schism that has emerged as a defining feature of the Republican electorate will be sharper in many of the ten states that vote [on Super Tuesday]. In Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Idaho, and Alaska, more than half the voters going to the polls are likely to be Evangelicals (whereas in Michigan the percentage was just 39 percent). In all those states, Romney will face an uphill climb against Santorum and even Gingrich. By contrast, the states in which Romney is all but guaranteed to do well may not provide him much political payoff. In Virginia, for example, neither Santorum nor Gingrich will be on ballot — a sign of organizational incompetence, for sure, but one that will make it hard for Romney’s people to spin a victory there as particularly meaningful. And then there’s Massachusetts, which not only is the state that Romney once governed but is regarded by many Republicans as an all-but-Communist enclave.
Which is why, for the next week, the same sets of eyes that were focused intently on Michigan will shift their gaze just slightly southward to Ohio — a state with a vast number of delegates on offer that also happens to be a pivotal battleground in the general election to come. If Romney can replicate his Michigan victory there and hold his own elsewhere, he may, just may, be in a position to start to make the argument that the nomination is (slowly, grindingly, but inexorably) coming within his grasp....
(Excerpt) Read more at douthat.blogs.nytimes.com ...
When he says the Party would rally around Palin...he must mean the ‘base’ because the Establishment sure as H*ll won’t ask or defend Sarah. She correctly stated last week that the Establishment wouldn’t dare come to her
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