Posted on 02/01/2008 11:02:27 PM PST by Truthsearcher
I think right now Romney needs to focus his attacks instead of on McCain, on Huckabee.
The McCain voters are not going to come over to him. It's the Huckabee voters that are potential persuadables for Romney. Because they already don't like McCain.
And Huckabee, the McCain stalking horse that he is, has been focusing all his attacks on Romney and not on McCain, because his job is to keep Romney from winning, not actually winning himself. Romney not addressing these attacks and focusing his attention on McCain is making a mistake and leaving his flanks unguarded.
By attacking Huckabee, Romney could set up Super Tuesday where Huckabee is knocked out of the race. If McCain ends Super Tuesday with say 700 delegates, that's still 400 short of what he needs for the nomination. If Huckabee is knocked out on Super Tuesday. It will give the conservatives coalition enough time to regroup and rally to defeat McCain in the remaining states in a head to head 2 man race, and deny McCain the remaining 400 delegates that he needs.
The goal for Romney on Super Tuesday should not be to catch McCain. But to knock out Huckabee. That should also be the objective of all Romney supporters the next few days. Instead of spending all your time and effort criticizing McCain, focus all your energy on persuading Republicans to not vote for Huckabee.
Even if Romney comes out of Super Tuesday with 300 delegates to McCain's 600-700. He can still win if it turns into a real 2 man race from that point on.
Romney needs to stay within striking distance. If he does, he can over take McCain over the next 4 to 5 months. Romney needs to be committed to go the distance.
And yes, he needs to deal with Huckabee somehow. Huckabee almost exclusively goes after Romney.
What Romney needs is a lot of people getting off their duffs and do some intensive GOTV campaign in the next few days - the more votes he can get on Super Tuesday, the more he can be seen as a viable challenger able to stop “McCain Doubletalk Express” which is sure to drive the party into oblivion, no matter whether McCain wins (fat chance of that, anyway) or loses the general election.
I'm in. I've made my own signs, painted my SUV windows with GO MITT slogans, I'm making calls and talking to as many people as I can every day. I'm sending notes to all my friends. We have time to make a difference. Work on reasonable folks who are undecided or are reasonable enough to listen when you explain why Mitt is the best choice.
The opposite would be better if he wanted to defeat McCain. Those who support Huckabee now are the ones who know about how gay marriage came to be in Massachusetts. They may hate McCain but they will not support the gay agenda that Mitt has promised to support. They will never support his defending a woman’s “right” to murder her baby. He has been on the wrong side of both of those issues with little track record to support his words to the contrary.
The truth is that if you want to defeat McCain, Romney has to help Huckabee in the states Mitt runs third in and concentrate his time on the states where he and McCain are close. Divide and conqueror.
He should not waste his time going after votes he will never earn. They will vote third party before they think about voting for the gay agenda loving, abortion provider from Massachusetts.
He should ignore Huckabee and stay on his own message - tell people of his accomplishments.
The more Huckabee attacks Romney, the more he will look like a Chihuahua (sorry for a doggone reference) barking and nipping at the heels, and the sooner he becomes just a nuisance and an annoyance, not worthy of a vote or time to listen.
McCain is wretched; but unfortunately, Romney comes across as a weak, stammering pantywaist every time he opens his mouth. McCain is a pathetic open borders amnesty advocate; but Romney is no leader at all.
I think my point is that he has to knock out Huckabee, he cannot beat McCain unless he takes Huckabee down first. So he needs to focus his effort there first.
Governor Romney is dead, and he knows it. He’s plotting his exit strategy. And that’s okay, because he’s a power-hungry, thin-skinned, vindictive, double-talking fraud:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=peFGA_HN3Yc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBRjSe8WvfQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_w9pquznG4
I lost so much respect for Hunter it’s not even worth mentioning.
“I lost so much respect for Hunter it’s not even worth mentioning.”
You’re right. It wasn’t.
A spat between Romney and Huckabee may either bring to him more attention and/or turn people off both of them and move to McCain.
Huckabee is now a nuisance, a gnat and should not be getting and diverting more attention than that. "Swatting flies" is not a very productive endeavor.
You’re welcome.
“I lost so much respect for Hunter it’s not even worth mentioning.”
Duncan Hunter is my congressman, I still repect him.
You don’t take out a 3rd place candidate. Paying attention to him gets him free media.
The candidate in 3rd place takes himself out, by running out of money.
Huckabee’s situation is very much like Thompson’s was. There is no visible path from point A to point B. If we assume he really does want to win rather than spoil, we have to try to imagine some strategy he may be pursuing.
You have to realize what is going on in campaigns at this point. Pros will tell their candidate it is over. Huckabee doesn’t have pros. He has people trying to keep their paycheck flowing at all costs — beyond a desire for him winning. Remember, he didn’t get the 1st tier of staffers. McCain, Guilliani and Romney got all of them. He got the leavings, who were desperate for a paycheck when they signed on 6 months ago. They are trying to stretch it now.
So that’s what the obstacle is. He is surrounded by people who have manufactured a point A to B scenario to sell to him, even if it makes no sense, that keeps their checks flowing. Pros don’t generally do that because they can easily latch on at a congressional campaign and feed the family. Huckabee’s 3rd raters can’t be sure of that.
Romney’s people are doing the right thing. Ignore Huckabee and maybe he’ll go away. Soon.
Romney will emerge from Feb 5 at about 400 delegates. McCain will have 700ish. If Huckabee then disappears, Romney has an outside chance to hold McCain under 1100 by denying him 450 out of the remaining 988 to be awarded post Feb 5.
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