[LS]

West is ignored because the rule of thumb is that if you can't succeed in winning lower level elections (see Alan Keyes) you'll never win a presidential election. Reagan succeeded in many elections---SAG president, governor of CA, actually had more votes than anyone else in 1976 (I think) but of course didn't have the delegates.

West lost his House seat. You can say he was gerrymandered, but whatever. You have to overcome that. It's the same problem, in part, that Rick Santorum had: it's hard to convince people that you can win the presidency when you can't even carry a state.

[FR_addict]

“West lost his House seat. You can say he was gerrymandered, but whatever.”

Wasn’t the GOP still in charge of Florida when he was gerrymandered out of his seat. I didn’t watch the Republican convention, but I don’t believe Romney allowed him to speak at the convention. The Republicans turned their back on West first. If he had been allowed to make a speech at the convention, he may have won the new district he had to run in.

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Col. West. He’s a great speaker. He didn’t always vote the way I liked (Pigsford, for instance), but he is genuine.