Posted on 03/20/2012 6:21:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
With Mitt Romney increasing his lead over Rick Santorum with a victory in Puerto Rico over the weekend, it is likely, that at the very least, Romney will hold his own or increase his lead over Santorum in Tuesday’s Illinois primary.
Mitt Romney now holds a lead of more than 2-1 over Rick Santorum (521-253) -- positioning him as the clear and indeed most likely Republican nominee for president.
But while Romney has won 55% of the delegates thus far – and indeed, it seems clear that neither Santorum on his own or Gingrich will be able to individually stop the former Governor – Romney’s share of the total popular vote cast is well below 45 percent.
Meanwhile, a Washington Post analysis out this morning shows that neither Romney nor Santorum has inspired much commitment from Republican primary voters and neither candidate has cut into the others base of support.
Going forward, it can be expected that the White House will continue to do what it has done recently-- escalate their attacks on all the Republicans and on the Republican Party – which now garners a 10% lower rating than the Democrats in recent polling.
Notwithstanding the Republicans demonstrable weakness, however, the former Massachusetts governor is within striking distance of the president -- with President Obama holding a narrow 4% or less lead in the horse race for President.
Thus, we can expect Mitt Romney and his fellow Republican candidates -- when they get tired of attacking one another – to attack an increasingly unpopular President Obama, whose vulnerability in the polls became clearer and clearer last week.
Indeed, with two-thirds of the electorate saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, the president's overall job approval is once again below 50%, and he is garnering decidedly negative ratings for his handling of the issue of ever-increasing gas prices.
This suggests that an election that has already been the most negative in American history will become more negative, and arguably less connected to the issues that matter.
To be sure, various GOP leaders have spoken at length about why they hope to resolve their nomination well before their convention opens in Tampa on August 27th to avoid further division and disarray.
And indeed, given the increasingly negative rating for both Mr. Romney and the Party, one can understand why conventional wisdom would suggest that a long drawn out process would be fatal for the Republican party, and Mr. Romney – should he ultimately receive the nomination.
Still, as former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said this week, it would not be necessarily bad for the party to be deadlocked going into the Republican Convention.
And while the four leading candidates will almost certainly do everything they can do to resolve things, whether it be through deals, alliances, or horse-trading, there is one other possibility.
And that possibility is that a new candidate can enter the race.
Let us recall how the surprise selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate four years ago galvanized a party that had been given up for dead and a campaign that had been given up for lost before the Convention.
However, history suggests that a new candidate-- whether it be Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, or Mitch Daniels -- could well galvanize a party that has become increasingly dispirited and divided.
To be sure, with Governor Romney doing better and better in delegate counts, it is still unlikely that this scenario will be reached, but it is one to take seriously.
No more bush boys, ever.
There are no surprises in the GOP. Mitt was picked four years ago and anyone who thought it would come out differently is naive or a useful idiot.
How anyone could despise Romney so much that they would sacrifice their vote and GIVE it to the left is beyond me,
I will bet you a Romney $10,000 that the VP will be a woman/and/or a minority.
wrong kemosabe...of all things Daniels is, Milquetoast isn't one of them....ask the crooked union bosses!!!!!!
Perhaps Olympia Snowe or Michael Steele.
in that case, I wouldn't vote for him either, we're looking for real Republican MEN
“However, history suggests that a new candidate— whether it be Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, or Mitch Daniels — could well galvanize a party that has become increasingly dispirited and divided. “
Schoen is a moron.
Only a moron would suggest that a super-RINO like Romney would be replaced with super-RINOs like Bush, Christie, or Danels and that would energize the base.
If they try to replace Romney with someone just like him it will REALLY infuriate the base.
That is just baby talk.
I'm a Newt supporter but will be a Daffy Duck voter in November.
I'm considering Dwight Eisenhower. He was a good President.
Hey Republicrats:
since you are hell bent on self destruction anyway, why not:
Romney/Bush 2012
That would be analogous to taking a bottle of sleeping pills, and THEN shooting yourself in the head just to be sure.
Idiots.
Moron...that would describe someone who reffered to Mitch Daniels as a RINO...The FIRST act he did as governor was eliminate the state employees union (I was a state employee at the time and applauded his action) during his years in power here, he made Indiana a "right to work" state which means that you cannot be forced to join a union and pay union dues to work in Indiana (COME ON IN, THE WORK CLIMATE IS GREAT HERE !!!)....he is now returning tax monies to ALL Indiana taxpayers because we have a surplus....How's your state doing?????
Oh, no! What a horrible thought! The establishment GOP really is the stupid party.
I sure hope those Bushes are rapidly multiplying so as to ensure future generations of the kind of polite, gentle and somewhat non-threatening patrician leadership we have come to expect.
I really do miss the vaguely confused and befuddled Bushes that led our country in past years. I do get a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about them and I am fondly reminded of Yale, tennis matches, sweaters, baseball games (tossing out that first pitch), and argyle socks.
What I would really like however, in addition to another Bush in the White House, is a friendly invasion/occupation of our neighbor to the north - Canada.
Now hear me out. I really have nothing against those hockey-crazed, beer-chugging Canucks. They are pretty much nice and harmless people. However, their silly country does tend to get in the way when I need to drive on up to Alaska.
Used to be that you could just go ahead and drive through Canada to get to Alaska and on the rest stops on the Al-Can, you could just use American money to fill up the gas tank and get a cup of strong coffee.
However, they are now asking you to not only present some sort of "passport" at the border, but they require you to change your American dollars into those funny looking Canadian dollars (with queens and kings) that you would rather keep as souvenirs rather than spend.
To me, this whole "Canada as a separate country" thing has really run its course. It's time to just convert those provinces into states and bring them on into the United States once and for all.
Absorbing Canada into the United States would definitely be a convenience for me. And think of the money we could save by closing down those unnecessary border crossings and laying off those mounties with the funny looking hats and uniforms. And it sure would make it easier to get to Alaska and back.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about going to war with Canada or anything like that. Nobody need get hurt. Just occupy the country peacefully and make the necessary administrative changes. As for those French-speaking people from Quebec, stop it already! No more French! It's just not cute anymore.
LOL
I really enjoyed that!
Thanks!
Romney got it....looks like Illinois is going for Obama with the low turnout for Romney
Turnout for Tuesday’s Illinois primary in Chicago was a meager 24 percent, officials said.
It was the lowest turnout for a presidential primary in the past 70 years.
Agreed. No more Bush’s. No more Harvard and Yale grads. This process needs to be opened up.
The lefties at The Economist and The New York Times love Daniels because he is ‘so pragmatic’ (meaning he knows how to give in to libs).
What does that tell you?
That`s a sentiment that`s pretty broad. I`ll be stunned if Romney wins 15 states in the general election.
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