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Romney's Struggles Fuel Talk of Brokered Convention
Reuters via Yahoo ^ | Friday, February 17, 2012 | Steve Holland

Posted on 02/20/2012 9:14:55 AM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's struggles in Michigan are fueling speculation that Republicans might have to resort to a doomsday scenario and launch a frantic search for a 2012 savior at their nominating convention in late August....How did Republicans get to this point? Romney's failure to get conservatives fully behind him and put down yet another challenger in the party - this time it's Rick Santorum - is causing angst in the party. Many senior Republicans do not think Santorum, a social conservative caught up in the U.S. culture wars over issues like abortion and contraception, has a chance to beat Obama if he wins the party's presidential nomination. When he ran for re-election as a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania in 2006, Santorum lost by 18 percentage points.... "It's hard for me to see how Romney rights the ship if he loses Michigan," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. "There is no level of spin that can overcome that disaster." Michigan will set the table for "Super Tuesday," the March 6 jackpot when 10 states hold Republican nominating contests. A loss for Romney in Michigan would raise serious doubts over whether he can rally enough support to have a big day on Super Tuesday and make a big move toward clinching the nomination. ....Who would Republicans turn to if not Romney or Santorum? Think of two popular governors, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Chris Christie of New Jersey, or former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, or even U.S. congressman Paul Ryan, author of a budget plan popular with Republicans....

Excerpted

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: brokered; convention; palin; romney
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To: SunkenCiv

Too bad. I searched the word “brokered” and the last time it came up in a thread title was early January.


21 posted on 02/20/2012 9:38:53 AM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: SunkenCiv

Too bad. I searched the word “brokered” and the last time it came up in a thread title was early January.


22 posted on 02/20/2012 9:38:53 AM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

How about letting the people choose their candidate or does the GOP leadership not believe in democracy now? Didn’t think so.


23 posted on 02/20/2012 9:40:38 AM PST by Crucial
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To: Sgt_Schultze
A Jeb Bush candidacy guarantees the Republican nominee comes in third place

Even in a two man race.

24 posted on 02/20/2012 9:42:05 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

The non-Romney delegates will be coerced to change their votes to Romney by the state GOP-e leaders thanks to homo dirt dug up by Matt Rhoades and Matt Drudge over the past 4 years.


25 posted on 02/20/2012 9:42:55 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

Romney has NO integrity.

He should PULL OUT instead of destroying America
as he did when he had his vicious team attack
Gov. Palin and her children (HER CHILDREN!!!!!!).

PULL OUT ROMNEY.


26 posted on 02/20/2012 9:43:30 AM PST by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: duckman

Newt and Rick seem to have a truce...but their supporters are constantly trashing each other. We are oh so close to getting Romney out...come on people!


27 posted on 02/20/2012 9:43:41 AM PST by exist
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

cause God Forbid that the VOTERS actually get the final say in who the candidate turns out to be. The too-smart-by-half Brahmans have to figure out a way to cram another RINO squish up our mmmm.mmmmm...mmmmmms.

This country is SO about to split into a 3 party system.


28 posted on 02/20/2012 9:44:02 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Tijeras_Slim

A Bush candidacy will lose to the third party candidate.


29 posted on 02/20/2012 9:46:03 AM PST by Sgt_Schultze (A half-truth is a complete lie)
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To: ElkGroveDan
Funny how there is no “talk” of one candidate starting to win one primary after another and wrapping it up before the convention. While Santorum could be in just another rise and fall spot like all the previous candidates, he is saying EXACTLY the things conservatives have been so desperate to hear and going beyond what the consultants normally let a candidate say.

Exactly! Rick is ahead in MI, OH and TX and is showing respectable numbers in GA. I don't expect to go into the convention w/o a winner and I expect that winner to be Santorum.

30 posted on 02/20/2012 9:46:18 AM PST by pgkdan (Rick Santorum 2012. Conservative's last, best chance!)
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To: MayflowerMadam

The homo blackmail courtesy of Drudge-Rhoades will push Romney over the top after the arm-twisting begins.


31 posted on 02/20/2012 9:47:44 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: Crucial

Posters to this thread are correct: a broker or contested convention means one thing: an establishment republican will win. And most likely it will be Mitt Romney. At that point I throw up and go on a fishing trip the first week in November and pray the people who are prepping for the end of the world on December 21, 2012 are right.


32 posted on 02/20/2012 9:48:10 AM PST by dt57
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To: exist
I'll be honest -- I'm a very lukewarm Newt supporter, but the prospect of Santorum running in November terrifies me. I think it would lead to a loss of epic proportions. And the prospect of a Romney win scares me about the same.

I wasn't a Palin supporter, but I'd prefer her over either of these three. I'd also take Daniels, Ryan, or Rubio.

33 posted on 02/20/2012 9:48:29 AM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: bigdirty

I would say yes, he would be guaranteed the nomination; however, I also suspect a brokered convention also illustrates just how divided the GOP is. In otherwords, we probably don’t have a prayer in November no matter who gets the nomination.


34 posted on 02/20/2012 9:51:09 AM PST by MachIV
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To: pgkdan

I hope you are right though I am a Newt Gingrich supporter. But I just don’t see it.


35 posted on 02/20/2012 9:51:39 AM PST by dt57
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To: Buckeye McFrog
cause God Forbid that the VOTERS actually get the final say in who the candidate turns out to be. The too-smart-by-half Brahmans have to figure out a way to cram another RINO squish up our mmmm.mmmmm...mmmmmms.

How so? If none of the four remaining candidates gets a majority going into the convention, then how do you say what the voters "final say" actually is?

I think Paul makes the likelihood of a contested or brokered convention more likely than some might think. He's not going to drop out, and if he ends up with 10% or so of the delegates, and if we assume most of the super delegates go to Romney, I don't see Santorum or Newt breaking the 50% barrier.

36 posted on 02/20/2012 9:55:05 AM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

Whomever it would be would be irrelevant. They would be in the exact mold of Romney, McCain, Dole...

If all the delegates are released to draft someone not currently running then I would, if I were a delegate, nominate the one person who is exactly the opposite of Mitt Romney and the typical GOP-E mentality politician in every way, shape and form.

Ted Nugent.

Just to shake things up a bit.


37 posted on 02/20/2012 9:57:48 AM PST by FerociousRabbit
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To: dt57
Posters to this thread are correct: a broker or contested convention means one thing: an establishment republican will win. And most likely it will be Mitt Romney.

If it goes to the convention I foresee total gridlock, and thus I think it's more likely Newt and Santorum would throw support behind an entirely new ticket (i.e. one without either of them on it) that represents their constituency reasonably well. I suspect the strategy would be a geographic play to lock up two of three between VA/NC, WI/MI/OH or CO/NM/NV. Given that my guess is McDonnell / Daniels.

38 posted on 02/20/2012 9:58:06 AM PST by NittanyLion
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

Yeah, the search is not too good sometimes (often). :’)


39 posted on 02/20/2012 9:58:56 AM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: exist
.


Can’t the Newt and Santorum guys just call a truce until we get Romney out??


Where have you been ?


Ricky and Willard are a Pro-Wresting Tag-Team ...



.
40 posted on 02/20/2012 10:05:50 AM PST by Patton@Bastogne (Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin in 2012 !)
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