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Posted on 01/07/2012 1:11:43 PM PST by neverdem
Mitt Romney has risen to the top of the Republican heap, and now leads by four points in the RCP Average. As little as a year ago, most observers considered this an impossible feat. Romney's poor showing in 2008, combined with the increased salience of his decision to sign a universal health care bill in Massachusetts that included an individual mandate, seemingly made him radioactive to the Republican Party.
Yet here we are today, with Romney potentially poised to wrap up the GOP nomination by the end of February. What made this possible? Commentators such as Ed Kilgore on the left and Erick Erickson on the right have focused on accidents of history. Both columns are worth reading in full, and they are correct that Romney’s likely nomination is due more to accident than to design. But they miss the two biggest accidents involved.
1) Romney has always been in second place. One of the interesting effects of the series of “anti-Romneys” who have come and gone during the campaign is that they have rendered Romney himself something of a FRINO -- a front-runner in name only. Consider...
--snip--
All this has really been the key to Romney’s success. Due to some historical accidents and bad luck for Republicans, their bench is incredibly weak. To be sure, some promising young governors and senators were elected in 2009 and 2010, but this gives the GOP a solid vice-presidential bench, not a particularly strong presidential one (something of the inverse of 2008, when everyone was scratching their heads over whom McCain could pick).
So, to paraphrase Jay Cost (and the great Stealers Wheel), Romney was left in 2012 with no one to the left of him and jokers to the right. The GOP appears to be stuck in the middle with him.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Guess who wants them open? See above.
Better than Larry Sabato? How dare you! LOL
In firefox it’s ‘menu’-’view’-’character view’...and then select ‘western windows’.
In IE it’s ‘menu’-’view’-’encoding’...and then select ‘western European Windows’.
(I think...)
Blah blah blah blah ....
Get a new line, you socialist twit.
Blah blah blah blah ....
Get a new line, you socialist twit.
Thanks.
Another reason the bench is weak is that neither Bush selected a VP who would reasonably have been expected to be a strong presidential candidate eight years later: Quayle due to being an unknown in 1988, and Cheney because of his age and health.
Picking a VP who can become a strong presidential candidate can help keep a party in power, but there hasn't been much of that in recent years.
I wouldn’t exactly call Biden a strong potential candidte either.
“If we elect Romney with a Republican congress, the media will always be able to report under “Republicans” America died.”
Excellent point. There is no way I will vote for Mitt or any hardcore RINO, this time- I’m done doing that.
Delegate selection is not solely a state prerogative. The RNC could require that states without closed primaries choose their delegates by closed caucuses, and mandate a partisan declaration process to facilitate closed caucuses if no partisan voter registration exists. Non-compliant primaries and caucuses would be beauty contests.
From my POV, that's more wishful thinking than big-picture thinking. Big picture with Romney: it is certain that he would make liberalism and statism more powerful in both the Republican and Democrat parties.
Big picture with Obama: It's certain that the forces of limited government conservatism (which is the best way to nourish both fiscal and social conservatism) would grow stronger within the GOP.
Those aren't warts. It's leprosy.
Gonna be a whole lot of Republican hacks coming down with it, too.
There is only one way to restore sanity too the GOP primaries. Yes they need to be closed but here is another solution needing too be added to that. Establish a national Republican primary day say like first Tuesday in May. This gives all running a decent chance and a better odds of a good candidate the party can unite behind. I'm sick and tired of about four states deciding who is the choice before spring. This would also make the campaigns start much later. Something I think all of us would welcome.
“The Real Reason Mitt Romney Has the Lead...”
is because the liberals and RINOs are lying about Romney in the lead.
Let’s get serious. Romney, in all polls, left, right and center, has a support ceiling of 25%. That means 75% of primary voters are voting for someone other than Romney.
And getting serious includes waiting for the remainder of primaries to play out. But WTF, Romney barely won Iowa by 8 votes, so let’s get all the surrender poodles here on FR to annoint Romney the winner.
Principles.
Just think if Jesus decided, "What the heck, these Pharisees, Sadducees and the Sanhedrin got dealt tough historical cards from the deck. Considering they are the closest thing My Father prescribes in the Old Testament, I should cut them some slack."
Nope, he called them out, tore through the temple they were in charge of with a whip, knocking over tables and unleashing righteous anger on them.
Romney is like the failing heads of the Jewish religion during Jesus's time. He's got his principles wrong, and we need to go to the wall and reject him with an eternal "Big Picture" in Mind.
Attention GOP Party Hacks!!
I cannot, I will not, vote for Romney under any circumstances.
That is all.
Amen! But I am not holding my breath. LOL
But, Obama does? 1/2 vote for Obama..That makes perfect sense. Each wasted vote puts Obama in for more years.
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