Romney is a no go for me, absolute. I’ll write in my candidate’s name if he is nominated or vote independent because if this is what America has come to be, I have to vote what I want America to become.
I think they should run together. At a certain point, the trailing candidate can drop out and toss his delegates to the leader and the leader can announce that the other candidate will be on the ticket as VP.
Personally, I’d like to see it fought out all the way to the convention. I’d also like my @#$%^&* late May Texas primary vote actually *mean* something. But that’s just me.
I read this morning that there is a possible Gingrich/Perry ticket idea floating around...
http://urgentagenda.com/PERMALINKS%20VII/MARCH%202012/12.PERRY.HTML
If you want a more conservative nominee, and you think Santorum and Gingrich clearly are better than Romney, then why would you want to keep splitting the anti- Romney vote?
Maybe in a 2 man race you can beat Romney. If you think either Gingrich or Santorum cannot win majorities in the primaries versus Romney, then what is the point?
I want fake milk & cookies boy Romney to pull out.
If Newt pulls out, he should be given the option to have his delegates support whoever will keep Romney from winning.
For Newt to catch Romney, 3/4 of Santorum’s supporters would have to switch to Newt. For Santorum to catch Romney, 2/3 of Gingrich’s followers would have to switch. Both of the above numbers assume that none of the supporters would go to Romney. I cannot picture those numbers moving.
I might be tainted by the comments I have seen on FR, but I cannot picture, for example, people who call Santorum “Little Ricky”, “Father Ricky”, or “Romney Lite” switching their votes that way.
Ain’t going to happen.
The only chance is to get one of them to drop out and go head to head.
And then one (Newt or Santorum) needs to start winning every state back to back to back. No matter where. So even if Romney picks up delegates he would a.) lose his frontrunner tag and b.) lose his argument for nomination (You going to nominate a guy who lost the last 20 or so states?)
And then heading into the convention, if say Newt went on a huge run at the end, winning like 85-90% of the states - who you going to make your nominee? It will be a serious battle.
That’s the only chance. IMO.
I agree with you. Santorum has lots of problems with being awarded delegates in important states where he failed to qualify on many ballots. He can’t beat romney alone period.
If Newt can’t either, a brokered convention is the only way to knock romney off his pedestal.
No, both need to stay in to, as you have aptly pointed out, keep Romney from gaining the nomination and the needed number of delegates.
Romney must not win, he will be a disaster in the general election against Obama.
How many ‘winner take all’ states are left versus some other type of apportionment?
“One has to say that if Newt or Santorum pulled out, it is not a sure thing that those delegates would support the other.”
I agree with you. Unless Newt and Rick were to start running as a team, then it is better that they both stay in.
The math doesn’t work out that way Shery. Because Romney keeps getting first he keeps taking a disproportionate number of delegates compared to his vote totals. The delegates are not added as a straight representation of the vote percentage. The problem is if 60% of the vote is “not Romney” and yet that is devided up 35% for romney 30% for conservative A, 25% for conservative B and 10% for the crazy uncle, then Romney gets over 50% of the delegates again and again. One or the other NEEDS to get out or they need to find a way to increase their vote total between them. However, staying in and scratching for 2nd and 3rd all the time is going to screw us all in the long run.
No, I don’t want anyone to drop out. I want to have a choice, when I *finally* get to vote. I’m sick of wimp-wristed candidates who can’t go the distance.
Having them both stay in only makes sense if they work together. I see no indication that Santorum would throw in with Newt. Santorum will most likely throw in with Romney for a VP slot. Since we know that Obama created the contraception issue and since we know that this issue has actually helped Santorum get evangilical support, I suspect that this was all orchestrated to help Romney by taking the evangelicals away from Newt.
A vote for Santorum is a vote for Romney.
Boo. Hiss.
Just what happens if no one gets 1144 delegates? If Newt and Sanctorum continue, Romney might well come up shy, but then what?
Forgive my ignorance, I’m interested in knowing.