CainConservative;Michele Bachmann; Rick Santorum
If the poll you offered has any validity at all, I would like to point out that Santorum and Bachmann together have 44 percent of the voter preference. This is sizably more than any other candidate, and a largely overlapping population. How many tea party or religious conservatives really want to vote for the serial polygamist or the person who believes he will one day be a god? Plainly speaking, not that many. The GOP needs to consider that it should not offer any candidate to the public at large which can not energize a quarter to a third of its base on a consistent basis. By what rationale do they assume that such a person will magically get 50 percent of the general populace (or a majority of the electoral votes.
I would appeal to the Bachmann and Santorum camps to do some soul searching and talking and merge behind one of these two.
Mhy personal opinion, which may be worth little, is to ask the hard thing of Bachmann’s camp, as she has more of the polls, and ask her to step behind Santorum. I know enough otherwise rational people who fear their perception of the Tea Party and view her as strident (you know how a strong man is viewed as strong, but a strong woman is strident) or completely fanatical - to the point that they mention emigration (I know, some might say good riddance...). Then there are whole camps of fundamentalists who will talk about what it means when the leader of the people is a woman... These are not editorial comments, but things that I think impact real voters in real ways.
To my way of thinking, recent articles about the Santorums’ dealing with the death of their baby aside, there is not the general feeling of alienation against him due to his perceived right wing-ness, and he would be the more electable candidate.
All that said, I would vote for either one of these over the rest of the pack, and have the highest regard for the one who sacrificed the attempt hereafter.
Meanwhile, we are doing in the primary what we say we are trying to prevent in the general election, splitting the conservative vote so that a not so conservative (at best) gets the win.
Just my two cents.
Now if it is true that none of the candidates qualified, but two who were grandfathered in, there is a real problem with the system, and I am not sure that equal application of the laws is being seen here - unless maybe McCain ends back on the ballot?
Well said.
Under VA law each party applies its own rules to put candidates on its respective primary ballot. The Republican Party of Virgina could, if it wanted, pass a rule to allow you to get on the VA primary ballot if you can burp the letters from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ after drinking a gallon of Coke.
The VA law only says that if somebody manages gets at least 10,000/400 verified sigs, that person *must also* be included on the primary ballot.
Pat Murray of the Republican Party of Virgina has issued a letter stating that, in addition to Virgina’s 10000/400 requirement, that the VA GOP will also accept any candidate who gets at least 15000/600 sigs without checking names or addresses (’deemed to have been certified’).
The word ‘deemed’ has a specific legal meaning that stipulates the requirement is presumed already met.
Remember ‘Deem and Pass’ with ObamaCare? Same thing.