Republican presidential hopeful
Mitt Romney arrived yesterday in
Willow Run, Mich., offering a
hand to a news photographer
disembarking from his
plane. (Associated Press)
Posted on 01/13/2008 5:10:24 PM PST by HokieMom
Traditional conservatives distrustful of Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani are eager for Mitt Romney to win the Michigan primary Tuesday and re-emerge as a force in the Republican presidential-nomination race.
Top Republicans who gravitated to the former Massachusetts governor because of his enunciation of limited-government conservatism fear another second-place finish — especially in the state where his father was once governor — would end his run.
"Card-carrying Republicans will find it very hard to vote for John McCain," said GOP campaign consultant Tom Edmonds. "It would take a lot of votes from independents for McCain to be victorious as the Republican standard-bearer."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Republican presidential hopeful
Mitt Romney arrived yesterday in
Willow Run, Mich., offering a
hand to a news photographer
disembarking from his
plane. (Associated Press)
That’s the sort of naturally non-arrogant behavior that does a candidate a lot of good with the media. Remember Algore, shortly after his VP term had expired, caught strolling away from a plane with his luggage on the tarmac, just assuming that his still present but much reduced staff of Secret Service agents would carry it for him.
Indeed, it shows you what type of person he is. :-)
Romney comes across as a bit patrician, those charges are true. It’s even more true that he comes across as a genuinely nice family man, unlike so many of the other GOP candidates. It’s also telling that it is the Washington Times that chose to run a rather flattering photo of a GOP candidate when we know other media would choose an unbecoming candid and accentuate a negative. Thank goodness for the Washington Times.
I’d like to see a Romney rebound.
The problem, which I don’t see anyone talking much about, is that there will be a lot of Democrats voting in the Republican primary - and they are not likely to choose Romney.
I have a friend in Michigan, very liberal Dem, who is doing just that because the Democrat primary has been rendered meaningless without Obama and Edwards on the ballot, and with the Dems not seating Michigans delegates for moving their primary date forward. I definitely do not want my friend (and other Dems) making our choice for us - but they are definitely going to influence the election - I would guess toward McCain.
I hope Mitt can stop the McCain train, before it pulls away from the station. I think a win in MI would do that.
Bump
Oh, I have a feeling he will. :-)
Not necessarily. McCain is, according to polls, the only Republican who can beat Hillary in the election (which I don’t agree with). So your friend may actually vote for Mitt to thwart McCain.
Its gonna come down to Romney and Huck at Twin Cities.
I’m a Fred guy, but Romney satisfies my executive mgmt pre-requisite. I’d pull the lever for Romney as happily as I pulled it for Bush in 2000. Bush’s immigration stance in 2000 was my greatest dislike with the man. But Bush wasn’t Gore and Romney won’t be Hillary or Obama.
I’ve been asking (but haven’t gotten an answer) whether we will even know how the votes break out in Michigan.
For those Indies or Dems asking for a GOP ballot, will we know how the vote breaks out?
I’m not wording this well. My concern is, if McCain wins, I hope we can tell whether he won among Republican voters. If he doesn’t that will take a lot of shine off the media coronation.
But I’m not sure we’ll know. I wouldn’t put it past Indies’/Dems to lie in exit polls.
Oh! Sorry. I was thinking they might pick Ron Paul and keep his visability up.
I had the chance to observe Mr. Romney up close in Kabul Afghanistan. Not nearly so friendly when the cameras aren’t rolling.
I have been worried about the same thing. I doubt that any polls accurately account for the dem factor on Tuesday. I really wonder what “they” (as if it would be an organized effort) would prefer - a Romney defeat or a McCain defeat???
I agree that they should fear McCain more in terms of current head-to-head polling. However, I think deep down, if they’re really honest, they probably fear the natural leadership and style that Mitt possesses. I wonder if anyone will be able to tell us just how the dems influenced the election.
I bet that whomever the loser is will blame that as the reason for their loss.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think many of them will be thinking strategy when they go vote in the Republican primary - as in let’s vote for the most beatable guy.
I think they’ll vote how people always vote, for the candidate they like. They’re bummed that their own primary doesn’t count, so they’ll choose a Republican ballot and then vote for who they like there.
My friend often speaks disappointedly that “there are so many conservatives in this state”, so I’m guessing my friend will not pick a conservative. McCain appeals most to this type of voter.
By the way, I was in Michigan at the end of last week, and I saw a ton of McCain ads on TV. A ton, in just two days.
With Michigan being such a union-vote state, I wonder why Obama and Edwards are sitting it out. They have union appeal.
can you elaborate?
Why did Obama and Edwards pull off the ballot?
I’m just remembering here, but I think they did it in protest to the Democrat party officials for announcing that they wouldn’t seat Michigan’s delegates for moving their primary up. In other words, they pulled off the ballot in solidarity with Michigan’s Dem voters against the party officials.
Am I remembering that right?
A stupid move, by the way. Hillary will get a publicity bounce in a meaningless primary because she’s the only one on the ballot.
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