Posted on 01/03/2008 11:39:37 PM PST by Maelstorm
A Hard Loss for Romney By John Ellis
It's one thing to lose as you are. What you lose is an election, but there's always another election and in the case of presidential primary politics, a new electorate that awaits you in the next state. It's another thing to lose as you aren't. Mitt Romney was never the 700 Club right-winger his campaign managers conceived. He was and is a man of business and a very capable one at that.
He's all but doomed now. Senator John McCain will beat him in New Hampshire, probably by a lot, and Romney's media coverage will evaporate and his candidacy will consequently die. On January 9, his managers will walk in and say that the campaign needs $10 million or $15 million to continue and that he, Romney, will have to write the check. Everyone who would contribute has maxed out. Everyone who might won't. Two-time losers don't get new money. It's a basic rule of politics.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
A lot can change in five days. I’m going to enjoy the fight for NH. The debate Saturday should be an opportunity. Mitt needs to find a way to hit Huckabee’s religious credentials and hit McCain hard on his support of Amnesty. McCain needs to be damaged going into South Carolina in order to open the door for a Romney resurgence. The South isn’t going to be easy for Romney or Rudy. They are yanks from places Southern boys and girls don’t trust.
I appreciate that you share my opinion on this. All of the Republican candidates contain some measure of party suicide, but running an evangelical preacher as the party candidate surpasses all levels of liberal caricature.
Only $8? I figured it was more.
And also, why would Mitt “have” to drop out after NH, since the guy is worth around $400 million?
As Mitt is discovering, money can only rent you so much love. Romney has high negatives from all his attack ads and flip-flopping, voters are turning away from him and another loss would guarantee a continuation of his downward spiral.
The latest polls out of New Hampshire already had McCain leading before Mitt's Iowa disaster. What do you think they'll look like after Iowa?
A McCain win makes it a money race. Rudy will hang on FL and CA where the electoral votes are. Mitt has money but does McCain or Fred?
This analysis seems to point toward a Rudy win.
Rudy got 3% in Iowa and his national numbers are falling fast. That national lead is long gone. He won't be leading California by the time that primary rolls around -- he might not be leading California now.
NH voters are unlike Iowa, they are not the conservative religious values crowd but more like the Republican,small-Govt, low tax types.
I think Huckabee will flop in NH. So the race is between Mccain and Mitt. Mccain has a maverick image which can attract independents and the libertarian types, Mitt can get support because of the proximity to Massachussets and considering many NH voters work in Massachussets.
I think Mitt can win in NH but it will be close.
Maybe so but as Rush pointed out tonight this is going to be a long race. He didn’t say who would be in but I am interjecting that this means money. Rudy has it and he is strong in FL and CA. Nationwide polls are not worth much in specific states and in this election cycle this is new that in a month or so a candidate will have to be organized in several states at once.
It’s a $$$$$$$ race now.
“that leaves just Fred, Ron Paul, and None of the Above.”
Of those three, only one is not a ridiculous choice. Go Fred.
Fred has money any time he needs it. I think Rudy will evaporate in FL. These guys were crazy to get in so early that is the story history will tell. They who most needed to shield the public from their full records have given the public in those states over a year to look at them and as in Iowa large percentages of undecideds and uncommitted supporters who would really rather have another choice are the result. Mitt lost to Huck because he never really led in Iowa in the first place. People just didn’t feel they had any other choice or were undecided.
Then why are they voting for huckaboob?
John Ellis was too nice to say it. But I will. ROMNEY IS A LIAR! This is why he is starting on the road to looooserville. He is a man who cannot tell the truth. Maybe people are starting to see it at long last?
Look up the definition for a cult in “Kingdom of the Cults” —
http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Cults-Walter-Martin/dp/0764228218/
It will help clear out some cobwebs... LOL
Romney ego trips and falls flat in Iowa
By Howie Carr | Friday, January 4, 2008
For Mitt Romney, it may be one and done. Last night he looked like an overrated second seed out of the Big Ten who gets upset in the first round by Campbell College.
As for Hillary, as my listener Ron from Norwood put it, she’ll be the one taking hostages at her headquarters in New Hampshire today.
Mitt not only got his teeth knocked out by Mike Huckabee, but the Huckster and his new plug, ugly Ed Rollins, mussed up his hair pretty good, too. Unless something happens this weekend - and debates have not been Mitt’s strong suit this year - he could be going down in the record books as the John Connolly, the Phil Gramm, the Steve Forbes of the 2008 race.
The guy who blew millions on an ego trip off a political cliff.
See you in New Hampshire, Mitt said last night. Yeah, at Lake Winnipesaukee, on Fourth of July weekend. Is it safe to say, Mitt, that Huckabee brainwashed the GOP voters of Iowa?
Maybe Mitt should have run for re-election as governor after all.
Instead, he had a press availability scheduled in New Hampshire this morning at 2 a.m. That must have been some wakeup call, not to mention a wake. Mitt can spin it all he likes that the Huckster had a natural base in Iowa, but that’s what money is supposed to overcome. That’s why they call it the mother’s milk of politics.
It must grate on Mitt that already the McCainiac rumpswabs of the press corps are promoting the Republican fight as McCain-Huckabee. But the fact is, Mitt’s been fading in New Hampshire faster than he did in Iowa. Like sharks, the voters smell blood in the water.
If there is the slightest glimmer of hope for Willard, it’s that Hillary’s wounded, too, and her flailing makes the Democratic ballot that much more attractive to the independents in New Hampshire in four days. For months now, the Barack Obama rallies have had the same feel as Deval Patrick’s last year - thousands of overweight Baby Boomer moonbats on prescription medication, the men in gray ponytails, the women knitting in their tent dresses, all of them in full swoon. How did Joe Biden describe Obama as a “clean” black man? The Boomers vote Obama, they feel good about themselves, their lives haven’t been a total selfish waste.
McCain’s Strait Jacket Express can’t match that karma, or star power. The Republican primary will have to be won among Republicans. And you can bet that Mitt is ready to hit the grumpy old man with everything but, as that folksy Huckster put it, the kitchen sink. Here is the Romney campaign’s weekend theme:
McCain = Ted Kennedy. Money will be no object. When you’re already down for $20 million, what’s another five? Whichever Republican finally gets Huckabee one-on-one wins. It’s the longest of long shots now for Mitt, but what’s he got to lose except Tagg’s inheritance?
But in the end, Mitt’s ad barrage won’t work. Because Mitt has the same problem Hillary does. They just don’t like him, or her. They don’t connect. Hillary is just so 20th century. Her husband was the ultimate Teflon politician, nothing stuck to him. She’s Velcro, unable to put across a single lie with the panache of her husband.
She’s got more money than God, and how is her campaign spending it? They’re buying ads on my radio show, and Rush Limbaugh’s. Michael Savage must have been sold out.
If she goes down in flames, how long do you suppose she and Bill will remain married? About as long as Rudy and Judy most likely. And how about Giuliani - you had to know that something was wrong in that campaign when they put Paul Cellucci and Joe Malone on the same bus in New Hampshire and thought the boys could bury the hatchet once and for all.
As for Fred Thompson, he didn’t do that poorly in Iowa, but what’s up with the 1:30 arrival this afternoon in New Hampshire? He’s ceding two news cycles in New Hampshire to his new worst enemy, John McCain, whose minions tried to sandbag him yesterday with the rumor that he was dropping out of the fight. We all thought Fred was a politician, it turns out he only played one on TV. And you know very well that Arthur, his character on “Law and Order,” would have been up at dawn this morning, thanking voters at a subway stop somewhere.
This campaign is off to a great start. This morning it looks like it comes down to Obama vs. McCain in the finals, but tomorrow, who knows?
Anyone for a brokered convention, or two?
Please see post #53.
Incredible column.
But does he?
and he is strong in FL
Are you sure?
and CA.
I don't think so.
I agree that those are three things to keep a close eye on, but I think we'll see that Rudy doesn't have nearly the money he'd need and his old leads in large states are a thing of the past. He had, what, a 2 point lead in Florida, before Christmas? An 8-point lead in California in early December? Ancient history.
Um, Fred isn't contesting New Hampshire?
So Huckabee and Obama shielded voters from their real records? Huckabee has the record that Christian voters want?
So I guess Fred, McCain and the rest were less successful in shielding voters from their records?
Except that I think Mitt has too much ego and pride to endorse someone else. It would be a hard pill for him to swallow to endorse someone who fished behind him in both Iowa and New Hampshire. For that reason, I think Romney limps to the finish line instead, making sure to get his money’s worth.
You got me.... I guess Howie is wondering the same thing, what with the apparent lack of urgency inferred from Fred's "late" scheduled arrival time in that state.
” He’s all but doomed now. “
It’s looking more and more like the Republicans are doomed , and that we are going to have either our first woman Prez or first black Prez .
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