“I was thinking of setting myself on fire” — Mitt Romney strategist Stuart Stevens
The Republican convention is nearly a year away.
Something like 95% of voters already know how they’ll vote (even if they won’t admit it).
Come the convention, most of us will agree with Stuart.
I’d be happier if we could just lock all the primary candidates in a conference room, feed them bread and water, and not let them out until they agree unanimously on who will be the Right’s candidate. POTUS has to guide & get consensus on contentious issues; if a candidate can’t persuade like-minded contenders s/he should be the candidate, s/he should not be the candidate.
Alas, the point of Primary Season and the debates isn’t to persuade voters, but trial-by-fire to see who can withstand the pressure and who flames out with an unexpected stupid (Cain, I’m glaring at you).
“Something like 95% of voters already know how they’ll vote (even if they won’t admit it).”
Maybe in Iowa and NH, but most people have no idea who is going to be on their ballot and in the race when they get a chance to vote. In Virginia, my choices were Ron Paul and Mitt Romney last time around. I wouldn’t in a million years told you in August that I’d be voting for Ron Paul in protest, but I did. In 2008, it was also sown up so I voted for Hillary in the democratic primary (operation chaos).