They are stepping up to the plate....Palin looks to be shaking them all out!
DRUDGE HAS IT......”Romney to formally announce run for President in NH on June 2”
How many times is Romney going to announce???? Must be he thinks people didn’t get it yet.
With the field clarifying, Mitt Romneys interests now align well with those of one other possible candidate: Michele Bachmann. Both of them have an interest in seeing her do as well as possible.
Like Bob Dole in 1996 or John McCain in 2008, Romney is an establishment-oriented candidate with serious vulnerabilities on his right flank. To get the nomination, he needs (as they needed) to prevent the emergence of a single candidate to his right. So Dole made a tactical alliance with Pat Buchanan in Lousiana, helping to eject from the race the one candidate who could theoretically have denied him the nomination by consolidating voters to his right: Phil Gramm. McCain made a tactical alliance with Mike Huckabee against the candidate against whom both of them were competing and whom both of them hated: Romney.
Which candidate does Romney most need to worry about? In my view, its Tim Pawlenty. He can run to Romneys right, but with establishment support, in a way that I dont think Daniels or Huntsman can or want to.
The candidate who could play the Buchanan/Huckabee role this time is Michele Bachmann. Like her 96 and 08 counterparts, she cannot win the nomination but can prevent anyone to the establishment candidates right from getting it either. (I think she has greater potential strength in the primaries than Santorum, but if he took off he could play the same role.) So watch for Romney to start making a lot of positive comments about Bachmann.
I dont believe Romney could win a Romney-Pawlenty contest. But he would almost certainly win a Romney-Bachmann race, and could well win a Romney-Pawlenty-Bachmann race. So to the extent he can boost her, it makes sense for him to do so. Having been on the losing end of this maneuver, Romney, I assume, knows how its done.
What was Mitt doing up in NH a week or so ago, if not announcing?
This is true. Bachmann has been good by keeping the Tea Party message out in front in D.C. As she said over six months ago, her main goal is to keep the Tea Party message front and center.
Within weeks, Backmann will realize that the conservative base wants Sarah to lead the fight against the Marxist.