Posted on 11/17/2007 6:12:35 AM PST by TAdams8591
Every four years pundits get to swing for the fences. Only the timid split differences and hairs. The pundits worth reading will declare what they see in the very cloudy crystal ball. Here's my take.
There are two very separate battles within the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.
There is the contest between Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Fred Thompson to be the conservative challenger to Rudy Giuliani.
And then there is the contest between that challenger and the former New York City mayor.
It is Rudy's hope that the race to be his opponent for the Republican nomination doesn't narrow until after the February 5 primaries in New York, California, Georgia and 17 other states divide up 1,058 delegates. (The full primary and caucus calendar is here.) Rudy would love to see a long, drawn-out, bitter struggle among the contenders to be the alternative to his candidacy, a struggle that drains all three of money and energy even as Rudy piles up delegates.
Romney is counting on strong showings in Iowa (January 3), Wyoming (January 5), New Hampshire (January 8 ?) and Michigan (January 15) to send the message that he and only he can match Giuliani in appeal and fund-raising prowess. Giuliani is counting on Huckabee to bleed Romney in Iowa enough so that the Mainstream Media can proclaim Romney's showing in Iowa a "disappointment" and try to throw the race to race Rudy into disarray.
(Excerpt) Read more at hughhewitt.townhall.com ...
The despicable push-polling in Iowa is emblematic of the desperation of folks whose candidate couldn't or wouldn't outwork Romney and see their sole salvation in an alliance with pure unadulterated bigotry.
The race is between Rudy and the rest of the Republican party. Rudy will never get enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot. It will be a brokered convention, which weighs in favor of Thompson more than Romney. Hewitt underestimates Thompson’s strength in the South, the Rep national power base.
Rudy will get some of his backers to slyly slip just enough money to Huckabee to help him make a challenge to Romney and blunt his (and Fred’s) showings in IA/NH/SC.
If Rudy or Romney gets to be the Republican nominee for POTUS, we will just have one party, “The Republicrat Party”.
I agree. We would also get better candidates. In many ways, the smoke filled rooms did a better job of selecting nominees than the democratic open primaries, which are more a function of money than anything else.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I hate the MSM a lot more than that.
January will be quite telling.
Uh, that's not what he said. With Fred garnering the NRLC endorsement (arguably the biggest of it's kind) and strong rumors that the NRA may soon endorse him, Mitt might want to keep his receipts so he can get a refund from those TV & radio stations and newspapers. IMO, both Rudy and Mitt are unelectable, for very different reasons (corruption, morals and issues w/Rudy, Mormonism and flip/flopping for Mitt). It is sad that many can't see past a man's religion, but there it is. Everyone here knows that Hugh Hewitt is 100% behind Mitt Romney, and that's fine, it's a free country. But wishing for something doesn't make it so....
You have a lot of company. : )
You must know that Romney’s record is the extreme opposite of “conservative pro-life.”
Just this year as he has run for president he is running as a conservative, but his sincerity is obviously doubtful.
If the race goes down to the wire, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Fred will carry Texas in the Primary.
And then we will finally get the debates we deserve: Giuliani v. Romney -- on the war, the economy, judges, taxes, and immigration.
It is a two man race. It has been for a long, long time.
Texas votes on March 4. If Romney hasn't already run the table, that's when the GOP will issue its verdict. George W. Bush's state is going to decide whether the Massachusetts governor or the New York City mayor will carry on the polices that W set in motion."
Though Hugh's been more supportive of Romney than any other candidate, it's never been 100%. Furthermore, he's been touting Rudy lately.
Just this year as he has run for president he is running as a conservative, but his sincerity is obviously doubtful."
Please quit that vicious truthing about Willard! He's a "conservative" now, so bringing up his past as a liberal RINO governor of Massachusetts and him running to the left of Ted Kennedy is just not done on a Mitt thread.
See freeper Unmarked Package's homepage.
In a state whose legislature is 85% democrat with a similar composition in the electorate, Romney pushed MA as far to the right as it would go. His effort was nothing short of commendable. Given the hand he was dealt, do you honestly think you could have done better?
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