You are assuming a lot. A convention with floor fights, fractured positions on candidate platforms etc doesn’t go smoothly. The media will portray the Republican Party has being chaotic and unable to govern. Even the super-pacs can’t be going negative all the time. Whereas Obama will be trumpeting the end of the Afghan war, Iraq withdrawal, Osama bin Ladin’s capture; Auto Rescue Plan (they don’t call it a bail-out in Detroit); mortgage relief to 3m individuals, historical low interest rates etc etc., we would lack a defined candidate to speak for all and build his stature as what the public can view as a capable and competent WH occupant and speak to issues that show our candidate’s grasp of the major domestic and international issues of the day. Perception is everything politics. August is just too late for any of this.
No way the 2008 Hillary gang will back The Undocumented-Un, this time.
You’re overlooking a lot of what I wrote. Media attention for our convention would be an enormous plus. Remember how popular Palin became after her convention speech, even though she came out of the blue? With this much drama at our convention, the ratings would only go up and if we gave good speeches we’d get more benefit from that.
The media will always portray us badly. I don’t base my strategy on how to make the media portray me better, because that’s a pipe dream. But the convention is where we define ourselves without a filter, and a bigger audience for it counts for a lot.
Our candidates are already defining themselves and speaking to the issues. A long primary only helps us do more of that. It helps us in every way imaginable. It makes it much easier for our candidates to give speeches, travel the country and give interviews. All the candidates should simply keep doing that between June and August. Mitt is the only guy who might not do it since he cowardly runs from the media whenever he can, but he’s a bad candidate. Prolonging the process to try and get rid of him is a good thing no matter how we do it.
All this exposure may also give us a better idea of which candidate we should run by the time the convention rolls around. If we pick him now, by August the media could have destroyed him and we would have nowhere to go. All the candidates will be well known by August. Newt is already succeeding at attacking Obama on energy and has him on the ropes. The final nominee doesn’t need to be picked to do all the things you’re saying.