Whenwhenwhen will we EVER learn to DECIDE THE ISSUES FIRST—then and only then find our candidate??
This way we never would tolerate the flood of Illegals—Sharia, never have ‘COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM’............
There’s always talk of a brokered convention at this stage of an open presidential primary.
Per usual it is highly unlikely.
Ah, if only we could reincarnate Reagan.
No.
Put down the bong.
The problem with a potential brokered convention is that the result might be a Jeb Somebody.
That would be even worse than the current contenders. First, we still have the taint from the last ‘Somebody’ and Second, we don’t need any more family dynasties — EVER.
Romney continues to flounder around 20%. He can’t seem to get much more traction, even as the #1’s fall by the wayside.
Gingrich, the current #1 flavor, is the most beltway insider in recent history. Washington is part of the problem. Gingrich is part of Washington and has been for 2 decades. Ergo, Gingrich is part of the problem in Washington. The big problem with Gingrich is that one never knows which side he is going to be on. One issue may result in a couch photo-op with Pelosi, another might be a Contract with America, and another might be some under-the-table stuff that could result in another ethics investigation. Gingrich is a toss-up, and that is scary.
Santorum and Huntsman need to stay tuned. They could still have their opportunities as #1 Flavor of the Week.
[Even with record lows, Obama still hovers round 49% with his base. As we saw Thursday, the FED can do a lot of numeric manipulation to make both the jobs and economics numbers look good by next fall. After nearly a year of MSM/Dem rehabilitation and resurrection, Obama will be a tough incumbent by next November.]
The era of deadlocked conventions is over, because the leadership of both parties realized that by controlling the convention rules committee, they could dictate who the candidate would be.
In turn, this message is then sent out to the critical state parties, to insure they anoint the chosen one, which can be told ahead of time with a delegate count.
At this point, I’m pretty sure that the party leaders have chosen Romney to be the candidate, so his instructions are to just remain quiet, say nothing particularly controversial, and let the other candidates thrash around.
If any of them get too far ahead, then they will get critical party support weakened, and the Republican spin doctors, like Karl Rove, will actively undermine them.
When the convention rolls around, only Romney supporters will get to give the prime time speeches, and anyone else will be shoved to late night slots.
They also want to avoid any fiasco as what happened to the Democrats when Tip O’Neil took the podium, read off unpopular resolutions, and ignored the overwhelming “No!” from the crowd before declaring that “in the opinion of the chair, the ‘Aye’s’ have it.”
At this point, the only chance any other candidate has is for either Romney to horribly screw up, his funding to dry up, or the rank and file so profoundly rejecting him that the leadership chooses some other RINO.
Conservative? Oh, heck no. The leadership would prefer a radical leftist Democrat president to a conservative. Reagan was a fluke, and they bitterly hated every minute of his presidency.
Palin?
I think Newt is viable, but personally I really just want to see any kind of "debate" with zero ... or whomever.
I think Santorum is being given short shrift because he wanted to maintain a majority and Michelle is ... I'm sorry to say this ... a woman, and after having ONE culture shock that hasn't been good, I don't think America will vote for a woman.
Cain should stay in the race for no other reason than to polarize the race baiting the democrats are guilty of. The talk shows and news/pundits wouldn't be able to sit still if Herman stays in ... they'd internally hemmorhage.
I don't know what to think of Perry, but I'd take him over Romney any day.
When it's all said and done, I think we will have a clear candidate from the primary
I wish there was a candidate to choose from.
In my dreams.
There hasn’t been a brokered convention in something like 60 years, long before the current primary and caucus system started. Someone will make a break during January or February and get momentum enough to take sufficient delegates.
Unless Palin runs, we will probably get another 4 years of the Vacation Boy and the Wookie.
Rubio? Demint? Barbour?
Give us a hint, PJ.
Not very likely.
To have a first ballot fail, you’d need the plurality holder to be short of a majority by MORE than the sum of superdelegates and delegates previously pledged to early state dropouts, because, as happened with Obama, you can count on virtually all of them falling behind the plurality holder in the name of democracy. That in turn requires two very-closely-matched candidates and a strong third pulling delegates deep into the calendar. District and statewide winner-take all rules make that hard to achieve.