*-Just in case I am wrong, but the tea leaves do say otherwise
In less than eight hours, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is expected to announce that he will ask United States Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to be his running mate in the 2012 presidential election.
So as I note the tea leaves.
Consider this earlier today report from Robert Costa of National Review Online. He may have been the one to call it and do so early.
Jim Geraghty at the Campaign Spot explained how this now seems to be the way it goes down, based on the way Team McCain did it in 2008.
If one thinks that this is all a head fake and Mr. Romney is going to have someone else with him in Norfolk, Virginia in front of the U. S. S. Wisconsin, this reporting from Stephen Hayes and Bill Kristol at The Weekly Standard would suggest that the Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, is ready to go all out regarding the choice.
Again, I do not believe it is a head fake of any kind. This is it.
So, what to make of this choice?
I think that it is a great choice.
Paul Ryan is the man that gets the problem in Washington. He wants to address cutting the debt, deficit and entitlement reform. He is totally on board with repealing and replacing the horrible Obamacare. He is veteran enough in Washington, yet still is seen as an outsider. He is a hawk on foreign policy. He is a Roman Catholic. And he is young. Mr. Ryan is 42 years old.
Yes, I would have loved to see someone like the South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, or United States senator, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), but these are important people that need to be where they are. Mr. Rubio is probably one of, if not the leading conservative voice in the senate. He too is young and one can see him as a senate majority leader possibly sooner rather than later. After all, he was the Speaker of the House in the Florida House of Representatives.
Mrs. Haley needs to continue her reform agenda in Columbia. No doubt she is a fighter and survived a horrible primary and a narrow election win in 2010. And she has hit some bumps in the road. But reform, ah it is always hard. Ask Sarah Palin.
Paul Ryan will make a great number two and a superior vice-president to the dim bulb occupying that position today, Joe Biden.
Tomorrow at this time, it will be official.
ROMNEY/RYAN '12
And the real campaign begins in earnest.
Showing posts with label 2012 Republican field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012 Republican field. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Is Condi Rice Mitt's Veep Choice?
Well according to Matt Drudge, former Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice is the front runner to be asked to be Mitt Romney's choice to be his vice-presidential running mate.
Before one thinks that this is the Gospel, I do advise one to read this from John Tabin over at The American Spectator.
Well, if you read it, whatever happened to Vice-President Frank Keating? Oh yeah, George W. Bush did not ask him to be his running mate in 2000.
Hey, how is Vice-President Evan Bayh doin'?
Oops! My bad! I'm sorry I mean Joe the Brain Surgeon Biden, the current vice-president.
Well, Mr. Drudge apparently had info that former Indiana Democrat Senator Bayh was the choice of then Sen. Messiah Barack for the veep spot.
Let me explain to ye what this is all about.
It is a trail balloon.
The Romney campaign is putting it out there to see how it would sell to the public.
Would Republicans be down with her as the veep? Would the base and conservative Republicans be OK with Condi as veep? How would she be looked at by independent voters? What about her non-experience in elected politics?
There is a lot more, but that is the top of the thoughts on this trial balloon.
Miss Rice has said repeatedly that she is not interested in the job and that in fact and indeed Team Romney should look someplace else.
Now, if Team Romney is looking at a potential Rice nomination as a panderama, it would succeed on two fronts.
One, the obvious is that she is a woman.
Two, she is Black.
As I believe the current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton once said about electing her philanderin husband, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, with him you get two for the price of one.
See, there it is. A Black woman.
How dare the Democrats try to rip that one, right?!
Please, remember folks, we are talking about the Democrat party here. And the Democrat party led by Chicago thugs. They will do and say anything at this point, hoping something would stick.
There are actually more down and ups choosing Miss Rice as the veep.
I already mentioned one and that is her never running or winning elected office. Another is that she herself is not all clear on the so-called social issues. Although she claims to be pro-choice on abortion, it is not really clear that she is a radical pro-choicer or one that can articulate a clear position on the subject. And what about the whole panoply of domestic issues? What does she stand on Obamacare? Taxes?
See, I actually think that this would not be a good choice because while Miss Rice is great on foreign policy, she is almost a blank slate on everything else. Miss Rice could look like, well the Dear Leader, President Obama. Getting on the job training.
I think that it will not be Miss Rice, but Team Romney is putting it out there to gin-up interest in the campaign.
I still think that the dark horse is Rick Santorum. But another one that is a potential surprise to some would be the South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley. One thing to her advantage is that she ran in one of the nastiest Republican campaigns in 2010 and a just as nasty general election campaign which she won. Mrs. Haley is one that Mr. Romney endorsed for governor quickly in the 2012 election cycle and also gained the endorsement of Sarah Palin.
How is that for GOP unity?
So, maybe this time Drudge has it right and Mr. Romney will ask a reluctant Miss Rice to come to serve her nation one more time as potential vice-president. Or maybe it is the big summer trial balloon. I am on the side of the trial balloon.
Before one thinks that this is the Gospel, I do advise one to read this from John Tabin over at The American Spectator.
Well, if you read it, whatever happened to Vice-President Frank Keating? Oh yeah, George W. Bush did not ask him to be his running mate in 2000.
Hey, how is Vice-President Evan Bayh doin'?
Oops! My bad! I'm sorry I mean Joe the Brain Surgeon Biden, the current vice-president.
Well, Mr. Drudge apparently had info that former Indiana Democrat Senator Bayh was the choice of then Sen. Messiah Barack for the veep spot.
Let me explain to ye what this is all about.
It is a trail balloon.
The Romney campaign is putting it out there to see how it would sell to the public.
Would Republicans be down with her as the veep? Would the base and conservative Republicans be OK with Condi as veep? How would she be looked at by independent voters? What about her non-experience in elected politics?
There is a lot more, but that is the top of the thoughts on this trial balloon.
Miss Rice has said repeatedly that she is not interested in the job and that in fact and indeed Team Romney should look someplace else.
Now, if Team Romney is looking at a potential Rice nomination as a panderama, it would succeed on two fronts.
One, the obvious is that she is a woman.
Two, she is Black.
As I believe the current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton once said about electing her philanderin husband, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, with him you get two for the price of one.
See, there it is. A Black woman.
How dare the Democrats try to rip that one, right?!
Please, remember folks, we are talking about the Democrat party here. And the Democrat party led by Chicago thugs. They will do and say anything at this point, hoping something would stick.
There are actually more down and ups choosing Miss Rice as the veep.
I already mentioned one and that is her never running or winning elected office. Another is that she herself is not all clear on the so-called social issues. Although she claims to be pro-choice on abortion, it is not really clear that she is a radical pro-choicer or one that can articulate a clear position on the subject. And what about the whole panoply of domestic issues? What does she stand on Obamacare? Taxes?
See, I actually think that this would not be a good choice because while Miss Rice is great on foreign policy, she is almost a blank slate on everything else. Miss Rice could look like, well the Dear Leader, President Obama. Getting on the job training.
I think that it will not be Miss Rice, but Team Romney is putting it out there to gin-up interest in the campaign.
I still think that the dark horse is Rick Santorum. But another one that is a potential surprise to some would be the South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley. One thing to her advantage is that she ran in one of the nastiest Republican campaigns in 2010 and a just as nasty general election campaign which she won. Mrs. Haley is one that Mr. Romney endorsed for governor quickly in the 2012 election cycle and also gained the endorsement of Sarah Palin.
How is that for GOP unity?
So, maybe this time Drudge has it right and Mr. Romney will ask a reluctant Miss Rice to come to serve her nation one more time as potential vice-president. Or maybe it is the big summer trial balloon. I am on the side of the trial balloon.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Willard Mitt Romney Is Now The Republican Presidental Nominee For 2012
Tonight, the battle for the White House is officially on as Willard Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nod for 2012 with his win in the Texas primary today.
With about 35% of the votes counted, Mr. Romney has 71% of the vote and has won the 155 delegates up for grabs.
Having entered the evening at 1,066 delegates according to CNN, with the win Mr. Romney now has 1,221 delegates and that puts him well over the 1,144 for the Republican nomination.
And that is the good news.
The race is now over.
The last serious candidate standing, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, officially threw his support of Mr. Romney in this Facebook post.
With that the remaining primaries are but to put icing on the cake for Mr. Romney.
Say what you will but Mr. Romney in the end ran a stellar campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
The more conservative candidates would not or could not coalesce support behind their candidacies. Like Mr. Romney in 2008 vs. Sen. John "F--- You" McCain, it was only when it became clear is when Mr. Santorum began to pick up and get traction among conservatives. But it was too little too late.
By dispatching his opponents one by one, Mr. Romney became a stronger candidates. While there seemed to be endless debates that included very lesser known candidates, Mr. Romney got stronger as the field winnowed down. And that is what we want in our standard-bearer to go up against the formidable Dear Leader, President Obama.
And in recent campaign appearances, Mr. Romney has focused on the Dear Leader, President Obama's mishandling of the economy and foreign affairs.
Now, Mr. Romney will be focusing on who his running mate should be for the fall campaign.
His decision is going to be an important one because it will be his first serious decision as the party nominee.
We all know that then Democrat candidate Sen. Messiah Barack blew it big time when he asked the Democrat party to nominate then Sen. Joe the Brain Surgeon Biden as his vice-president. Yet the masses were told to be afraid, be very afraid of one Sarah Palin. Yet I have sleepless nights wondering if, God forbid, Vice-President Brain Surgeon Biden were to become the commander-in-chief. Yup. I'd take Mrs. Palin any day over the current occupant of the vice-presidency.
So, now it is all between Mr. Romney and the Dear Leader, President Obama.
And it is game on!
With about 35% of the votes counted, Mr. Romney has 71% of the vote and has won the 155 delegates up for grabs.
Having entered the evening at 1,066 delegates according to CNN, with the win Mr. Romney now has 1,221 delegates and that puts him well over the 1,144 for the Republican nomination.
And that is the good news.
The race is now over.
The last serious candidate standing, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, officially threw his support of Mr. Romney in this Facebook post.
With that the remaining primaries are but to put icing on the cake for Mr. Romney.
Say what you will but Mr. Romney in the end ran a stellar campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
The more conservative candidates would not or could not coalesce support behind their candidacies. Like Mr. Romney in 2008 vs. Sen. John "F--- You" McCain, it was only when it became clear is when Mr. Santorum began to pick up and get traction among conservatives. But it was too little too late.
By dispatching his opponents one by one, Mr. Romney became a stronger candidates. While there seemed to be endless debates that included very lesser known candidates, Mr. Romney got stronger as the field winnowed down. And that is what we want in our standard-bearer to go up against the formidable Dear Leader, President Obama.
And in recent campaign appearances, Mr. Romney has focused on the Dear Leader, President Obama's mishandling of the economy and foreign affairs.
Now, Mr. Romney will be focusing on who his running mate should be for the fall campaign.
His decision is going to be an important one because it will be his first serious decision as the party nominee.
We all know that then Democrat candidate Sen. Messiah Barack blew it big time when he asked the Democrat party to nominate then Sen. Joe the Brain Surgeon Biden as his vice-president. Yet the masses were told to be afraid, be very afraid of one Sarah Palin. Yet I have sleepless nights wondering if, God forbid, Vice-President Brain Surgeon Biden were to become the commander-in-chief. Yup. I'd take Mrs. Palin any day over the current occupant of the vice-presidency.
So, now it is all between Mr. Romney and the Dear Leader, President Obama.
And it is game on!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
A Sweep For Mitt And Now Let The Campaign Begin
Since Rick Santorum announced he was ending his presidential campaign last week, the message was hat essentially, it is over in the Republican race.
And Mitt Romney proved that tonight with very huge wins in five states including two big ones.
Mr. Romney won in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island all the states up for grabs tonight.
Some notes.
Only Rhode Island was a semi-opened primary allowing independents and Republicans to vote. The rest were closed.
Only one of the five states, Pennsylvania, will probably be in play come November. And that is indicated in the number of voters as opposed to the other four states. Pennsylvania had almost 800,000 Republicans participate in the primary. The next state would be the largest of the five, New York and they will be lucky to break 250,000.
Now that Newt Gingrich is vanquished, it is time to hang it up.
What I would love to see is Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum together on the stage with Mr. Romney and offering their whole-hearted endorsement. That would erase any doubts that the key is unity and that the general election campaign can now begin.
Ron Paul, well he is Ron Paul. He will not leave and will force a roll-call vote at the GOP convention in Tampa in August.
I can live with that.
Mr. Romney is zeroing in on the Dear Leader, President Obama, and the failure that is his whole term in office.
Mr. Romney needs to state the obvious and tell us what he will do differently from the Dear Leader, President Obama.
I know a lot of people will rail that Mr. Romney is nothing but Obama-lite.
No he is not where it counts.
Mr. Romney, as I pointed out here, has already talked about merging and eliminating cabinet posts.
He has talked about returning many programs administered by the federal government back to the states.
On foreign policy, it is night and day between these two.
Mr. Romney will not forget that the War Against Islamofascist Terror is nor over. And he will not allow Red Korea to continue developing their nuclear program. Ditto for Iran.
With the primary essentially over, it is time for unity and to set Mr. Romney to victory not only in Tampa in August but across the United States in November.
And Mitt Romney proved that tonight with very huge wins in five states including two big ones.
Mr. Romney won in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island all the states up for grabs tonight.
Some notes.
Only Rhode Island was a semi-opened primary allowing independents and Republicans to vote. The rest were closed.
Only one of the five states, Pennsylvania, will probably be in play come November. And that is indicated in the number of voters as opposed to the other four states. Pennsylvania had almost 800,000 Republicans participate in the primary. The next state would be the largest of the five, New York and they will be lucky to break 250,000.
Now that Newt Gingrich is vanquished, it is time to hang it up.
What I would love to see is Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum together on the stage with Mr. Romney and offering their whole-hearted endorsement. That would erase any doubts that the key is unity and that the general election campaign can now begin.
Ron Paul, well he is Ron Paul. He will not leave and will force a roll-call vote at the GOP convention in Tampa in August.
I can live with that.
Mr. Romney is zeroing in on the Dear Leader, President Obama, and the failure that is his whole term in office.
Mr. Romney needs to state the obvious and tell us what he will do differently from the Dear Leader, President Obama.
I know a lot of people will rail that Mr. Romney is nothing but Obama-lite.
No he is not where it counts.
Mr. Romney, as I pointed out here, has already talked about merging and eliminating cabinet posts.
He has talked about returning many programs administered by the federal government back to the states.
On foreign policy, it is night and day between these two.
Mr. Romney will not forget that the War Against Islamofascist Terror is nor over. And he will not allow Red Korea to continue developing their nuclear program. Ditto for Iran.
With the primary essentially over, it is time for unity and to set Mr. Romney to victory not only in Tampa in August but across the United States in November.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Rick Santorum: A Couragous Campaign Comes To An End
As I alluded to earlier, former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, has "suspended"-re: ended-his quest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
It is really too bad that it has come to an end.
But Mr. Santorum showed how a campaign can and should be run when everything is basically against you.
A year ago, Mr. Santorum was but a blip on the screen of Republicans itching to run against the Dear Leader, President Obama. After all, the looming shadow of Mitt Romney, runner up in 2008 to Sen. John "F--- You" McCain, started him off really at a low point. Then there were others that decided to enter the race. Here are some of those Mr. Santorum outlasted.
Congressman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Radio talk show host and former business executive Herman Cain. Texas governor Rick Perry. Former Utah governor and Obama ambassador to Red China, Jon Huntsman, Jr.
A rather impressive list I think.
The reason I believe that his campaign was courageous is that he took on issues that are not really at the forefront of the American voter this time around.
Yes, he spoke out as a devout, worshipping Roman Catholic on the issue of contraception. And while I have to admit I am not totally on his side about it, I appreciate his honesty of belief on the subject. And yes, it may have cost him some votes.
But another issue that Mr. Santorum spoke on better and much more at the heart of the matter is the breakdown of the traditional American family unit. And how we must as a society encourage married men and women and, if God so provides, that they have children in an intact family unit. There is a dirty little secret that as more and more families are headed by one parent (for a variety of reasons that are not the subject of this post) and it has led to a lot of problems. Social. Financial. And yes, children that are not even being raised by that one parent but the state, through daycare, pre-school and eventually K-12.
It takes guts to seek that as a campaign theme in the world of the 30 second soundbite gotcha moment.
And yes, Mr. Santorum did walk in it on more than one occasion. And he has to ease out of those minefields. And did so the best he could.
On foreign policy there is no question where he stood at the fundamental struggle the United States has with radical Islam. Mr. Santorum would and wants to take the fight directly to the Islamofascist terrorists before they get us.
The other reason that Mr. Santorum ran a courageous campaign is that he really had nothing but a core group of people that believed in him and his ideas.
In Iowa, he practiced a year of the kind of retail politics it take to ingratiate one's self with the voters in a state of Iowa's size and population.
And it did pay off.
Mr. Santorum DID eventually win the Iowa caucuses. And Mr. Santorum took that grit and determination on to win 10 more states and 3.2 million Republican votes.
Remember, he outlasted some very serious candidates and some non-candidates. And had a lot less money, support and structure.
Had Mr. Santorum won the crucial Michigan primary, and he nearly did, this would be a different race today.
But Mitt Romney as I noted just had a superior organization and money. And like it or not, the latter matters when running a national campaign.
Mr. Romney I still believe should seriously consider Mr. Santorum for his vice-president. Because Mr. Romney is going to need someone that looks, acts and is a fighter. And Mr. Santorum fits that bill. Plus, Mr. Santorum has Washington experience that Mr. Romney does lack.
Now, without a doubt, Willard Mitt Romney is on his way to the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Romney has this blogger's full support.
But Richard John Santorum ran a campaign on a shoestring. Yet one of courage and determination that I hope is rewarded by a President Romney.
And now, the fight is on for Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama.
Let's get behind Mitt now!
.
It is really too bad that it has come to an end.
But Mr. Santorum showed how a campaign can and should be run when everything is basically against you.
A year ago, Mr. Santorum was but a blip on the screen of Republicans itching to run against the Dear Leader, President Obama. After all, the looming shadow of Mitt Romney, runner up in 2008 to Sen. John "F--- You" McCain, started him off really at a low point. Then there were others that decided to enter the race. Here are some of those Mr. Santorum outlasted.
Congressman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Radio talk show host and former business executive Herman Cain. Texas governor Rick Perry. Former Utah governor and Obama ambassador to Red China, Jon Huntsman, Jr.
A rather impressive list I think.
The reason I believe that his campaign was courageous is that he took on issues that are not really at the forefront of the American voter this time around.
Yes, he spoke out as a devout, worshipping Roman Catholic on the issue of contraception. And while I have to admit I am not totally on his side about it, I appreciate his honesty of belief on the subject. And yes, it may have cost him some votes.
But another issue that Mr. Santorum spoke on better and much more at the heart of the matter is the breakdown of the traditional American family unit. And how we must as a society encourage married men and women and, if God so provides, that they have children in an intact family unit. There is a dirty little secret that as more and more families are headed by one parent (for a variety of reasons that are not the subject of this post) and it has led to a lot of problems. Social. Financial. And yes, children that are not even being raised by that one parent but the state, through daycare, pre-school and eventually K-12.
It takes guts to seek that as a campaign theme in the world of the 30 second soundbite gotcha moment.
And yes, Mr. Santorum did walk in it on more than one occasion. And he has to ease out of those minefields. And did so the best he could.
On foreign policy there is no question where he stood at the fundamental struggle the United States has with radical Islam. Mr. Santorum would and wants to take the fight directly to the Islamofascist terrorists before they get us.
The other reason that Mr. Santorum ran a courageous campaign is that he really had nothing but a core group of people that believed in him and his ideas.
In Iowa, he practiced a year of the kind of retail politics it take to ingratiate one's self with the voters in a state of Iowa's size and population.
And it did pay off.
Mr. Santorum DID eventually win the Iowa caucuses. And Mr. Santorum took that grit and determination on to win 10 more states and 3.2 million Republican votes.
Remember, he outlasted some very serious candidates and some non-candidates. And had a lot less money, support and structure.
Had Mr. Santorum won the crucial Michigan primary, and he nearly did, this would be a different race today.
But Mitt Romney as I noted just had a superior organization and money. And like it or not, the latter matters when running a national campaign.
Mr. Romney I still believe should seriously consider Mr. Santorum for his vice-president. Because Mr. Romney is going to need someone that looks, acts and is a fighter. And Mr. Santorum fits that bill. Plus, Mr. Santorum has Washington experience that Mr. Romney does lack.
Now, without a doubt, Willard Mitt Romney is on his way to the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Romney has this blogger's full support.
But Richard John Santorum ran a campaign on a shoestring. Yet one of courage and determination that I hope is rewarded by a President Romney.
And now, the fight is on for Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama.
Let's get behind Mitt now!
.
SANTORUM OUT!
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has suspended his quest for the Repblican presidential nomination as of this morning.
I think that Mr. Santorum ran a much better campaign than anyone, including myself, would have imagined a year ago at this time.
There will be a lot more on this later.
One good thing about this announcement?
Takes John Derbyshire off the front page at least for a day!
I think that Mr. Santorum ran a much better campaign than anyone, including myself, would have imagined a year ago at this time.
There will be a lot more on this later.
One good thing about this announcement?
Takes John Derbyshire off the front page at least for a day!
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Romney's Clean Sweep And Yeah, I Told You So
Tonight former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney moved a lot closer to the GOP presidential nomination with a clean sweep of three primaries in Washington, D. C., Maryland and Wisconsin.
At stake were 98 delegates and all three states are winner-take-all. Thus, according to CNN's count, Mr. Romney now has 640 delegates compared to his closest rival, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum coming in at 264.
Like it or not folks, it appears that Mr. Romney will be on his way to the GOP convention in Tampa in August with the necessary 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.
For whatever reason, Newt Gingrich is apparently staying in the race. He will make it harder to have Mr. Santorum be the single conservative to go against Mr. Romney. Thus while he may not be blowing out what is left in the field, he is on his way to the nomination.
There is no chance that Mr. Santorum will leave the race before the Pennsylvania primary slated for April 24. And he should not.
Win or lose, Mr Santorum can go to Tampa with a slew of delegates and have at the very least influence on the GOP platform. And can make a case to be Mr. Romney's number two.
So, it is time to say it.
Mitt Romney is the GOP presidential nominee apparent.
And now all that are left, Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Paul and Mr. Santorum should focus on the one to beat.
And that is the Dear Leader, President Barack Hussein Obama.
The time for snipping at each other is over. The case needs to be made that the economy is a mess, the United States standing in the world is diminished and that a second term of the Dear Leader, President Obama, will make this Great Land but a third-rate nation. Not the Shinning City on the Hill.
It is time for all conservatives to unite and make this a fight as Mr. Santorum has said for the future of the United States.
And that maybe what GOP voters said tonight in getting Mitt Romney closer to the GOP presidential nomination.
At stake were 98 delegates and all three states are winner-take-all. Thus, according to CNN's count, Mr. Romney now has 640 delegates compared to his closest rival, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum coming in at 264.
Like it or not folks, it appears that Mr. Romney will be on his way to the GOP convention in Tampa in August with the necessary 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.
For whatever reason, Newt Gingrich is apparently staying in the race. He will make it harder to have Mr. Santorum be the single conservative to go against Mr. Romney. Thus while he may not be blowing out what is left in the field, he is on his way to the nomination.
There is no chance that Mr. Santorum will leave the race before the Pennsylvania primary slated for April 24. And he should not.
Win or lose, Mr Santorum can go to Tampa with a slew of delegates and have at the very least influence on the GOP platform. And can make a case to be Mr. Romney's number two.
So, it is time to say it.
Mitt Romney is the GOP presidential nominee apparent.
And now all that are left, Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Paul and Mr. Santorum should focus on the one to beat.
And that is the Dear Leader, President Barack Hussein Obama.
The time for snipping at each other is over. The case needs to be made that the economy is a mess, the United States standing in the world is diminished and that a second term of the Dear Leader, President Obama, will make this Great Land but a third-rate nation. Not the Shinning City on the Hill.
It is time for all conservatives to unite and make this a fight as Mr. Santorum has said for the future of the United States.
And that maybe what GOP voters said tonight in getting Mitt Romney closer to the GOP presidential nomination.
Monday, April 02, 2012
Romney Will Score Clean Sweep Tomorrow And We Better Get Used To It
Tomorrow at this time, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will sweep the primaries of the day in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin.
Yep, you read it here first.
And I think we all better get used to it.
Ninety-eight total delegates are at stake. And all three primaries are winner-take-all. And if Mr. Romney makes the clean sweep, the winds of inevitability will turn into the hurricane of the obvious.
At this point, someone needs to decide between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum who should exit gracefully.
It should be Mr. Gingrich, who has not had a win in weeks.
It probably won't help Mr. Santorum at this point. But it will give conservatives the freedom to vote for Mr. Santorum with no thought of "Gee, maybe I can vote for Newt. You know, to send a message."
Now, I continue to advocate that the race, such as it is, should continue. Not to be difficult or prickly or anything like that.
Because I firmly believe that a coronation is the last thing that Mr. Romney needs now. He needs to be on top of his game. And he needs to get on offense. And that can happen if a candidate like Mr. Santorum can keep him on top of his game.
But the reality is that as solid conservatives like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio and others have looked and realized that Mitt Romney is on his way to the nomination.
And tomorrow will continue that train to Tampa and the GOP convention in August.
Yep, you read it here first.
And I think we all better get used to it.
Ninety-eight total delegates are at stake. And all three primaries are winner-take-all. And if Mr. Romney makes the clean sweep, the winds of inevitability will turn into the hurricane of the obvious.
At this point, someone needs to decide between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum who should exit gracefully.
It should be Mr. Gingrich, who has not had a win in weeks.
It probably won't help Mr. Santorum at this point. But it will give conservatives the freedom to vote for Mr. Santorum with no thought of "Gee, maybe I can vote for Newt. You know, to send a message."
Now, I continue to advocate that the race, such as it is, should continue. Not to be difficult or prickly or anything like that.
Because I firmly believe that a coronation is the last thing that Mr. Romney needs now. He needs to be on top of his game. And he needs to get on offense. And that can happen if a candidate like Mr. Santorum can keep him on top of his game.
But the reality is that as solid conservatives like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio and others have looked and realized that Mitt Romney is on his way to the nomination.
And tomorrow will continue that train to Tampa and the GOP convention in August.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Ann Coulter Is Right That Mitt Romney Should NOT Choose Sen. Rubio For VP
I know that a lot of people are not going to like this. And I do not like writing this. But commentator Ann Coulter said today that Mitt Romney should not choose popular GOP Senator Marco Rubio as his vice-president should he be the GOP nominee for president.
I am a huge Sen. Rubio fan. I was on his bandwagon way before there was a Marco Rubio bandwagon.
So I would love to see him on the ticket.
But not now.
In 2016, Sen. Rubio, God willing, would be reelected to a second term as senator. He will have gone through the rigors of a campaign and win on his record. He will have some experience under his belt.
That is the point Miss Coulter made in the link above.
And if Mr. Romney is the nominee, he will need to have someone with the experience that knows how Washington works.
I still hold out that Mr. Romney will look at his most serious opponent for the nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum, as a running mate.
As noted by Matt Bai in the same link, most of the time people do not vote for who is second on the ticket.
Except that I believe last election, more conservatives voted for Sarah Palin as the GOP vice-presidential candidate than because of Sen. John "F--- You" McCain. But that is an actual exception.
Say what you will about Mr. Santorum but one thing I think helps rather than hurts his potential as a serious number two.
He will be an aggressive campaigner and one that will fight for Mr. Romney to win.
Please folks, do not comment that there is so much bitterness and there is no way that an offer will be made and that he would reject it.
George H. W. Bush accepted Ronald Reagan's offer to be number two in 1980. And people may not remember, but that was a bitter campaign as well.
That is when you try to get the best team together. And Mr. Reagan was wise enough to realize that Mr. H. W. Bush would be an asset rather than a liability.
But Sen. Rubio as appealing as he is could run into the headwinds that Mrs. Palin did in 2008. And that could hurt in the long run.
But I think that there is still a race to be had and that all of this talk is premature. We need to let the process continue. It will not hurt the GOP to have a real race. And until it is over, we can speculate all we want.
So, if Mr. Santorum were to somehow pull it off and win the nomination, would Mr. Romney accept his invitation to be vice-president?
I am a huge Sen. Rubio fan. I was on his bandwagon way before there was a Marco Rubio bandwagon.
So I would love to see him on the ticket.
But not now.
In 2016, Sen. Rubio, God willing, would be reelected to a second term as senator. He will have gone through the rigors of a campaign and win on his record. He will have some experience under his belt.
That is the point Miss Coulter made in the link above.
And if Mr. Romney is the nominee, he will need to have someone with the experience that knows how Washington works.
I still hold out that Mr. Romney will look at his most serious opponent for the nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum, as a running mate.
As noted by Matt Bai in the same link, most of the time people do not vote for who is second on the ticket.
Except that I believe last election, more conservatives voted for Sarah Palin as the GOP vice-presidential candidate than because of Sen. John "F--- You" McCain. But that is an actual exception.
Say what you will about Mr. Santorum but one thing I think helps rather than hurts his potential as a serious number two.
He will be an aggressive campaigner and one that will fight for Mr. Romney to win.
Please folks, do not comment that there is so much bitterness and there is no way that an offer will be made and that he would reject it.
George H. W. Bush accepted Ronald Reagan's offer to be number two in 1980. And people may not remember, but that was a bitter campaign as well.
That is when you try to get the best team together. And Mr. Reagan was wise enough to realize that Mr. H. W. Bush would be an asset rather than a liability.
But Sen. Rubio as appealing as he is could run into the headwinds that Mrs. Palin did in 2008. And that could hurt in the long run.
But I think that there is still a race to be had and that all of this talk is premature. We need to let the process continue. It will not hurt the GOP to have a real race. And until it is over, we can speculate all we want.
So, if Mr. Santorum were to somehow pull it off and win the nomination, would Mr. Romney accept his invitation to be vice-president?
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Santorum Scores In The Bayou
The former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, scored a very impressive win in the GOP Louisiana primary, taking 49% of the vote over the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney's 27%.
And once again, Mr. Romney took the one solid urban area, Orleans parish, and Mr. Santorum took all the other parishes (counties).
Look at this map for that info.
But something interesting took place for Mr. Santorum this time.
According to the CNN exit poll, Mr. Santorum has taken some of Mr. Romney's natural vote of people making over $100,000 a year. And he scored a majority of voters that think the budget deficit and the economy are major issues.
Now that means that Mr. Santorum is making inroads out of the social conservative box that he, to some extent, put himself in.
And needless to say that is going to sort of hurt Romney moving forward.
But this maybe the last state Mr. Santorum can score such a victory. The rest of the states are favorable to Mr. Romney as we start looking at big states as California, New York and Texas.
But Mr. Santorum can and should savor this big win in the bayou.
And once again, Mr. Romney took the one solid urban area, Orleans parish, and Mr. Santorum took all the other parishes (counties).
Look at this map for that info.
But something interesting took place for Mr. Santorum this time.
According to the CNN exit poll, Mr. Santorum has taken some of Mr. Romney's natural vote of people making over $100,000 a year. And he scored a majority of voters that think the budget deficit and the economy are major issues.
Now that means that Mr. Santorum is making inroads out of the social conservative box that he, to some extent, put himself in.
And needless to say that is going to sort of hurt Romney moving forward.
But this maybe the last state Mr. Santorum can score such a victory. The rest of the states are favorable to Mr. Romney as we start looking at big states as California, New York and Texas.
But Mr. Santorum can and should savor this big win in the bayou.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Romney Rolling
Mitt Romney has taken the Illinois Republican primary this evening and making it much harder for Rick Santorum to stay in the race for the GOP nomination.
With 94% of the vote counted, Mr. Romney has 47% of the vote compared to Mr. Santorum at about 35%. Ron Paul is ahead of the former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich with about nine percent to Mr. Gingrich's eight percent.
Some quick hits on the result.
First, while this seems to help Mr. Romney, once again he is winning without breaking 50% of the vote. But he is now consistently in the high 40s. Meaning voters are beginning to see the writing on the wall. That Mitt Romney will have enough delegates to win the Republican nomination in Tampa in August outright.
Second, so long as he is not ugly, there is no reason for Mr. Santorum to throw in the towel. He will win some more states. This Saturday Louisiana has it's primary and Mr. Santorum should win that one with possibly the same number Mr. Romney had in Illinois tonight.
Third, the one-time rationale of Mr. Gingrich staying in the race is now gone. Although it will be too late no matter what now, the honorable thing Mr. Gingrich could do is leave and support Mr. Santorum. But one thing about Mr. Gingrich is that he is one serious narcissist and that is why he will not leave this race with any shred of honor.
Fourth, Ron Paul is not any kind of factor except to keep his ideas out there. But now that the leftywhore media sees him going nowhere and is pulling their reporters from his campaign, it gets harder for him to get those ideas out there. Mr. Paul is not even getting double-digits in votes and is battling with Mr. Gingrich for the bottom of the barrel.
Clarity is now the way this race is heading.
But there are signs both Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum need to pay attention to.
As this map shows, the urban/suburban and rural divide is very clear here. Mr. Romney took Crook, er Cook county, home of Chicago and the surrounding counties. Mr. Romney also took Sangamon county, home of the state capital Springfield and Peoria county, home of the iconic city of Peoria. Mr. Santorum took everywhere else. And everywhere else while impressive on the map color-wise makes no difference when the other guy is taking the big prizes.
But it continues to hold out the open sore of the more conservative parts of any given state going with Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney taking the less conservative areas. It continues to paint Mr. Santorum in a corner that he will more than likely not get out of. And it just gets more difficult for Mr. Santorum to have the kind of wins that he had several weeks ago on a Tuesday when he won Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota.
But again, Mr. Santorum does not need to leave. He has issues he wants out there. And while sometimes he is not the most articulate, he is bringing the issues in the race. And they are not just social issues. It is how the current economic decline has hurt Blue-collar America.
And it could help make Mr. Santorum a serious candidate for vice-president.
Laugh all you want folks.
But who thought Mr. Santorum would be the last opponent standing against Mr. Romney? And again, his ability to connect with the Blue-collar voter that Mr. Romney will desperately need in November could bring his star rising to Team Romney.
And speaking of Mr. Romney, I think that this encounter with a young freeloader yesterday may have breathed amazing life to him and his campaign. See the linked video because reading the words do not it the same justice. But I will show the freeloader and Mr. Romney's retort:
Freeloader:
“You‘re all for like ’yay freedom and all this stuff and yay pursuit of happiness,’” the student said. “You know what would make me happy? Free birth control.”
Mr. Romney:
“Let me tell you something, if you‘re looking for free stuff that you don’t have to pay for, vote for the other guy. That‘s what he’s all about.”
It will take that and iron steel to go up against Team Obama and all of their surrogates. It will take a couple of adults. And both Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum are the adults in the room.
The Illinois primary makes that clear and it is looking more and more that Mitt Romney is on the way to the top for the GOP. And his running mate may already be there in Rick Santorum.
With 94% of the vote counted, Mr. Romney has 47% of the vote compared to Mr. Santorum at about 35%. Ron Paul is ahead of the former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich with about nine percent to Mr. Gingrich's eight percent.
Some quick hits on the result.
First, while this seems to help Mr. Romney, once again he is winning without breaking 50% of the vote. But he is now consistently in the high 40s. Meaning voters are beginning to see the writing on the wall. That Mitt Romney will have enough delegates to win the Republican nomination in Tampa in August outright.
Second, so long as he is not ugly, there is no reason for Mr. Santorum to throw in the towel. He will win some more states. This Saturday Louisiana has it's primary and Mr. Santorum should win that one with possibly the same number Mr. Romney had in Illinois tonight.
Third, the one-time rationale of Mr. Gingrich staying in the race is now gone. Although it will be too late no matter what now, the honorable thing Mr. Gingrich could do is leave and support Mr. Santorum. But one thing about Mr. Gingrich is that he is one serious narcissist and that is why he will not leave this race with any shred of honor.
Fourth, Ron Paul is not any kind of factor except to keep his ideas out there. But now that the leftywhore media sees him going nowhere and is pulling their reporters from his campaign, it gets harder for him to get those ideas out there. Mr. Paul is not even getting double-digits in votes and is battling with Mr. Gingrich for the bottom of the barrel.
Clarity is now the way this race is heading.
But there are signs both Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum need to pay attention to.
As this map shows, the urban/suburban and rural divide is very clear here. Mr. Romney took Crook, er Cook county, home of Chicago and the surrounding counties. Mr. Romney also took Sangamon county, home of the state capital Springfield and Peoria county, home of the iconic city of Peoria. Mr. Santorum took everywhere else. And everywhere else while impressive on the map color-wise makes no difference when the other guy is taking the big prizes.
But it continues to hold out the open sore of the more conservative parts of any given state going with Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney taking the less conservative areas. It continues to paint Mr. Santorum in a corner that he will more than likely not get out of. And it just gets more difficult for Mr. Santorum to have the kind of wins that he had several weeks ago on a Tuesday when he won Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota.
But again, Mr. Santorum does not need to leave. He has issues he wants out there. And while sometimes he is not the most articulate, he is bringing the issues in the race. And they are not just social issues. It is how the current economic decline has hurt Blue-collar America.
And it could help make Mr. Santorum a serious candidate for vice-president.
Laugh all you want folks.
But who thought Mr. Santorum would be the last opponent standing against Mr. Romney? And again, his ability to connect with the Blue-collar voter that Mr. Romney will desperately need in November could bring his star rising to Team Romney.
And speaking of Mr. Romney, I think that this encounter with a young freeloader yesterday may have breathed amazing life to him and his campaign. See the linked video because reading the words do not it the same justice. But I will show the freeloader and Mr. Romney's retort:
Freeloader:
“You‘re all for like ’yay freedom and all this stuff and yay pursuit of happiness,’” the student said. “You know what would make me happy? Free birth control.”
Mr. Romney:
“Let me tell you something, if you‘re looking for free stuff that you don’t have to pay for, vote for the other guy. That‘s what he’s all about.”
It will take that and iron steel to go up against Team Obama and all of their surrogates. It will take a couple of adults. And both Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum are the adults in the room.
The Illinois primary makes that clear and it is looking more and more that Mitt Romney is on the way to the top for the GOP. And his running mate may already be there in Rick Santorum.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Myth That The GOP Will NOT Unify In Tampa
The reason that the Republican party will in August unify and go all out in the upcoming general election campaign are three words.
Barack Hussein Obama.
I need though to point out a bit as of now, make a comparison and backup why we will be behind whoever gets the Republican presidential nomination.
First it is the process.
Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele set up the delegate formula and states determine how delegates are awarded. And a lot of states decided that it will not be a winner-take-all proposition.
Because there are fewer winner-take-all states and there are quite a few that have a really complex formula to awarding delegates, it is why we are where we are.
For instance, California was a winner-take-all state. One can win with as little as say 30% of the Republican vote and take all the delegates. All 172 of them. But since the 2008 contest, they are more or less awarded by the candidate that wins a congressional district. And there are 55 congressional districts. Thus 165, or three a district are awarded to the candidate that wins the district. And the remainder are won by the overall winner. It does help to create interest, even at the late date of June when our primary is held. Because no matter what, there are going to be two candidates vying for every delegate they can.
The long story short is that this is creating the race that we see now between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich is but the gnat that will not go away and Ron Paul is, well Ron Paul.
As a result of this an interesting trend has developed between Messrs Romney and Santorum.
In the states contested so far, Mr. Romney almost always wins the urban and immediate suburban counties. Mr. Santorum wins everywhere else. And that is what happened in 2008 between Hilary Clinton and then Sen. Messiah Barack. And note that their battle almost got to the convention. Mrs. Clinton did not get out of the race even though the deck ended up being stacked against her. It did make then Sen. Messiah Barack a better general election candidate.
So essentially we Republicans are having the same race in 2012. The outcome will probably be different in which the so-called establishment candidate, Mr. Romney, will be the nominee and not the outsider, Mr. Santorum.
Oh, remember in 2008, we heard all the same gloom and doom about the Democrats. That they could not unify and that it could be a tougher race, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Please.
They were out of the White House for eight years against that yokel, W. They would have voted for the fire hydrant and brought along a lot of people to do the same. And the Democrats did have then Sen. Messiah Barack. And lets face it, he ran a flawless campaign in the general election.
The key to winning is going to be, as it is becoming clear, winning that 20 percent of the electorate that really does not vote by party.
We are a 40-40-20 nation.
By that I mean that 40% of voters will vote Democrat no matter what. Ditto for the Republicans. It is about 20 percent that do not identify with a party but a candidate and or ideology or just the way that they are generally feeling at that point of time.
And this time, the fortunes are against the incumbent, the Dear Leader, President Obama.
There are a lot of reasons not relevant to this post and I won't go into them here.
But the 20 percenters are not really in the Dear Leader, President Obama's corner. But they are not in the Republican one necessarily either.
That is what is getting the so-called establishment panties in a bunch.
But they should take it easy and let the process play out.
Because once the candidate is chosen in Tampa at convention in August, then the real battle begins for the 20 percent.
And the battle-tested candidate, the Republican one, will unify his party and begin the real campaign.
Barack Hussein Obama.
I need though to point out a bit as of now, make a comparison and backup why we will be behind whoever gets the Republican presidential nomination.
First it is the process.
Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele set up the delegate formula and states determine how delegates are awarded. And a lot of states decided that it will not be a winner-take-all proposition.
Because there are fewer winner-take-all states and there are quite a few that have a really complex formula to awarding delegates, it is why we are where we are.
For instance, California was a winner-take-all state. One can win with as little as say 30% of the Republican vote and take all the delegates. All 172 of them. But since the 2008 contest, they are more or less awarded by the candidate that wins a congressional district. And there are 55 congressional districts. Thus 165, or three a district are awarded to the candidate that wins the district. And the remainder are won by the overall winner. It does help to create interest, even at the late date of June when our primary is held. Because no matter what, there are going to be two candidates vying for every delegate they can.
The long story short is that this is creating the race that we see now between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich is but the gnat that will not go away and Ron Paul is, well Ron Paul.
As a result of this an interesting trend has developed between Messrs Romney and Santorum.
In the states contested so far, Mr. Romney almost always wins the urban and immediate suburban counties. Mr. Santorum wins everywhere else. And that is what happened in 2008 between Hilary Clinton and then Sen. Messiah Barack. And note that their battle almost got to the convention. Mrs. Clinton did not get out of the race even though the deck ended up being stacked against her. It did make then Sen. Messiah Barack a better general election candidate.
So essentially we Republicans are having the same race in 2012. The outcome will probably be different in which the so-called establishment candidate, Mr. Romney, will be the nominee and not the outsider, Mr. Santorum.
Oh, remember in 2008, we heard all the same gloom and doom about the Democrats. That they could not unify and that it could be a tougher race, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Please.
They were out of the White House for eight years against that yokel, W. They would have voted for the fire hydrant and brought along a lot of people to do the same. And the Democrats did have then Sen. Messiah Barack. And lets face it, he ran a flawless campaign in the general election.
The key to winning is going to be, as it is becoming clear, winning that 20 percent of the electorate that really does not vote by party.
We are a 40-40-20 nation.
By that I mean that 40% of voters will vote Democrat no matter what. Ditto for the Republicans. It is about 20 percent that do not identify with a party but a candidate and or ideology or just the way that they are generally feeling at that point of time.
And this time, the fortunes are against the incumbent, the Dear Leader, President Obama.
There are a lot of reasons not relevant to this post and I won't go into them here.
But the 20 percenters are not really in the Dear Leader, President Obama's corner. But they are not in the Republican one necessarily either.
That is what is getting the so-called establishment panties in a bunch.
But they should take it easy and let the process play out.
Because once the candidate is chosen in Tampa at convention in August, then the real battle begins for the 20 percent.
And the battle-tested candidate, the Republican one, will unify his party and begin the real campaign.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
WHOA! Rick Takes Two In The South!
Just in case you think that the 2012 Republican presidential Death March, aka primary season, can not get any more convoluted and complex, here comes Rick Santorum to win not just Alabama but also Mississippi and take two deep South states.
Starting in Mississippi, with 99% of the precincts reporting as of this writing, Mr. Santorum leads Newt Gingrich, 33% to 31% with Mitt Romney coming in a solid third with 30%.
In Alabama, also with 99% of the precincts reporting, Mr. Santorum had a stronger win taking 35% of the vote and Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney tied for second each coming in at 29%. But by actual votes, Mr. Gingrich is ahead of Mr. Romney by about 2042 votes.
To cut to the chase, this is what happened tonight.
Mr. Santorum is the only other viable candidate to go up against Mr. Romney.
Mr. Gingrich needs to leave with what little grace he has and if he is serious about wanting a conservative he should immediately endorse Mr. Santorum.
But I do not think the former House speaker will do that.
If he should "suspend" the campaign, he will simply not endorse anyone. He will just let the process play out.
Mr. Romney did better than I would have thought in these two states in the deep South. If he does finish third in both of these races, it will not be because he was blown out.
And if Mr. Romney is the GOP standard-bearer in 2012, these states will vote for him over the Dear Leader, President Obama. This was their chance to say, essentially, we don't particularly have an inclination to vote for Mitt now, but come November, we will crawl over broken glass to do so.
Tonight were two big wins for Rick Santorum. He is now the co-front runner along with Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich needs to go away.
And this will continue.
After all, we have to wait to see who wins the Hawai'i caucus later tonight!
Starting in Mississippi, with 99% of the precincts reporting as of this writing, Mr. Santorum leads Newt Gingrich, 33% to 31% with Mitt Romney coming in a solid third with 30%.
In Alabama, also with 99% of the precincts reporting, Mr. Santorum had a stronger win taking 35% of the vote and Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney tied for second each coming in at 29%. But by actual votes, Mr. Gingrich is ahead of Mr. Romney by about 2042 votes.
To cut to the chase, this is what happened tonight.
Mr. Santorum is the only other viable candidate to go up against Mr. Romney.
Mr. Gingrich needs to leave with what little grace he has and if he is serious about wanting a conservative he should immediately endorse Mr. Santorum.
But I do not think the former House speaker will do that.
If he should "suspend" the campaign, he will simply not endorse anyone. He will just let the process play out.
Mr. Romney did better than I would have thought in these two states in the deep South. If he does finish third in both of these races, it will not be because he was blown out.
And if Mr. Romney is the GOP standard-bearer in 2012, these states will vote for him over the Dear Leader, President Obama. This was their chance to say, essentially, we don't particularly have an inclination to vote for Mitt now, but come November, we will crawl over broken glass to do so.
Tonight were two big wins for Rick Santorum. He is now the co-front runner along with Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich needs to go away.
And this will continue.
After all, we have to wait to see who wins the Hawai'i caucus later tonight!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Is Kansas A Republican Kingmaker?
Today the Kansas Republican party held their 2012 presidential caucus and the winner, by a mile, was Rick Santorum.
And it was not even close as the results show Mr. Santorum taking a solid majority, 51% of caucus goers to Mitt Romney's 21%. Newt Gingrich and Crazy Uncle Ron Paul fight for the bottom with 14% and 13% respectively.
Now I do not know but Kansas is one of the most Republican states in the nation. And it solidly rejected the so-called front runner, Mr. Romney.
And before you say how few people participated in the caucus, does not matter. A vote is a vote. It is their tough duck if they could not tear themselves away for a couple of hours and participate.
The question is can Kansas make Mr. Santorum even more respectable to Southern voters in Alabama and Mississippi this Tuesday? Will the Kansas vote make or break Santorum or will it even matter?
Here is one thing for certain.
Newt Gingrich is conceding these states. Because he is saying that he will stay in the race no matter what. I do not think that he expects to win either state.
So not it really is a race between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum.
And today, I think Kansas made that possible.
And it was not even close as the results show Mr. Santorum taking a solid majority, 51% of caucus goers to Mitt Romney's 21%. Newt Gingrich and Crazy Uncle Ron Paul fight for the bottom with 14% and 13% respectively.
Now I do not know but Kansas is one of the most Republican states in the nation. And it solidly rejected the so-called front runner, Mr. Romney.
And before you say how few people participated in the caucus, does not matter. A vote is a vote. It is their tough duck if they could not tear themselves away for a couple of hours and participate.
The question is can Kansas make Mr. Santorum even more respectable to Southern voters in Alabama and Mississippi this Tuesday? Will the Kansas vote make or break Santorum or will it even matter?
Here is one thing for certain.
Newt Gingrich is conceding these states. Because he is saying that he will stay in the race no matter what. I do not think that he expects to win either state.
So not it really is a race between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum.
And today, I think Kansas made that possible.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
And Alaska Goes To Romney
To update the last of the Super Tuesday races, Alaska goes for Mitt Romney over Rick Santorum by about five percent.
And the results are six states for Mr. Romney, three for Rick Santorum and the state of Georgia for Newt Gingrich.
So it cements a good night for Mr.Romney, an also good night for Mr. Santorum and a lousy one for Mr. Gingrich.
But no one is leaving this race anytime soon.
And no one should.
And the results are six states for Mr. Romney, three for Rick Santorum and the state of Georgia for Newt Gingrich.
So it cements a good night for Mr.Romney, an also good night for Mr. Santorum and a lousy one for Mr. Gingrich.
But no one is leaving this race anytime soon.
And no one should.
Romney WIns The Big Prize Of Super Tuesday, Ohio, And Barely
When all is said and done as of this writing, Mitt Romney was the winner of the night of this Super Tuesday, 2012, Republican edition.
While this election tracker does not indicate it, Mr. Romney is the projected winner by Fox News, CNN and the Associated Press.
But, as John Fund points out over at National Review Online, there are a lot of danger signs for Mr. Romney.
I will go back to it. Because here is how it seems to have all shaken out tonight.
For Mitt Romney, he wins the following states:
Idaho, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont and Ohio.
Rick Santorum has won three states and one is surprising:
North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Newt Gingrich won his home state:
Georgia.
As of this writing, there are no results from the Alaska Republican Caucus.
So, what does this all mean?
For one, Newt Gingrich has no real reason to be in this race now except to be a spoiler. He needed to win somewhere other than Georgia and he did not. And two states, Massachusetts and North Dakota, Mr. Gingrich finished in last place.
Rick Santorum, while not winning the big prize of Ohio made it a total nail-biter in the end. Mr. Romney only won Ohio by one percent or about 12,000 votes. And Mr. Santorum had an upset winning the North Dakota caucus. It may not seem like much, but Mr. Santorum is now the only viable ABR-Anyone But Romney-candidate left standing.
Mitt Romney did what he had to do. He did end up winning Ohio. But it was not pretty and brings us back to Mr. Fund's piece over at NRO.
Although it is short, it points to the obvious.
That Mr. Romney should have had a much easier time winning Ohio.
That losing Oklahoma may not seem like a big loss, but it is a rebuke to the very popular Sen. Tom Coburn who just endorsed Mr. Romney.
And the fact that Mr. Romney is still not all that in the South. He has not won a state outside of Florida in the South and there have already been several primaries.
And he did not win in Georgia, Tennessee or Oklahoma. The pattern is there and plain to see.
And yet it does appear that Mr. Romney will more than likely be the Republican nominee this time around.
It also means that he needs to make a serious choice for second spot on the ticket if he is the nominee.
There is no doubt that Mr. Santorum could be at the front as the clear ABR candidate. I still think he can pull the surprise by asking South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to be number two. And there is already clamoring to put Marco Rubio as the number two.
But first things first.
By winning what he had to do tonight, Mitt Romney should be able to start winning races by larger margins as it looks evident he will be the nominee. Rick Santorum can stay in, but needs to tread carefully if he will be seriously considered for the number two position.
As the old saying goes a win is a win. No matter how ugly it is. And Mitt Romney has won kind of sort of ugly tonight.
While this election tracker does not indicate it, Mr. Romney is the projected winner by Fox News, CNN and the Associated Press.
But, as John Fund points out over at National Review Online, there are a lot of danger signs for Mr. Romney.
I will go back to it. Because here is how it seems to have all shaken out tonight.
For Mitt Romney, he wins the following states:
Idaho, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont and Ohio.
Rick Santorum has won three states and one is surprising:
North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Newt Gingrich won his home state:
Georgia.
As of this writing, there are no results from the Alaska Republican Caucus.
So, what does this all mean?
For one, Newt Gingrich has no real reason to be in this race now except to be a spoiler. He needed to win somewhere other than Georgia and he did not. And two states, Massachusetts and North Dakota, Mr. Gingrich finished in last place.
Rick Santorum, while not winning the big prize of Ohio made it a total nail-biter in the end. Mr. Romney only won Ohio by one percent or about 12,000 votes. And Mr. Santorum had an upset winning the North Dakota caucus. It may not seem like much, but Mr. Santorum is now the only viable ABR-Anyone But Romney-candidate left standing.
Mitt Romney did what he had to do. He did end up winning Ohio. But it was not pretty and brings us back to Mr. Fund's piece over at NRO.
Although it is short, it points to the obvious.
That Mr. Romney should have had a much easier time winning Ohio.
That losing Oklahoma may not seem like a big loss, but it is a rebuke to the very popular Sen. Tom Coburn who just endorsed Mr. Romney.
And the fact that Mr. Romney is still not all that in the South. He has not won a state outside of Florida in the South and there have already been several primaries.
And he did not win in Georgia, Tennessee or Oklahoma. The pattern is there and plain to see.
And yet it does appear that Mr. Romney will more than likely be the Republican nominee this time around.
It also means that he needs to make a serious choice for second spot on the ticket if he is the nominee.
There is no doubt that Mr. Santorum could be at the front as the clear ABR candidate. I still think he can pull the surprise by asking South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to be number two. And there is already clamoring to put Marco Rubio as the number two.
But first things first.
By winning what he had to do tonight, Mitt Romney should be able to start winning races by larger margins as it looks evident he will be the nominee. Rick Santorum can stay in, but needs to tread carefully if he will be seriously considered for the number two position.
As the old saying goes a win is a win. No matter how ugly it is. And Mitt Romney has won kind of sort of ugly tonight.
So Who Will The Big Super Tuesday Winner Be For The GOP?
As I write this, voters will go to the polls in 10 states to determine the lion's share of 410 delegates for the Republican presidential nomination.
Today voters in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia will vote as to who they think should be the GOP presidential nominee and who should get the delegates.
So, a scorecard is needed as to who can win, where and why.
Lets start with Mitt Romney and the following states he should win today:
Idaho, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia.
Mr. Romney should win Idaho with ease as it in the Mormon trifecta-Nevada and Utah being the other heavily-populated Mormon states. Massachusetts is his current home state. Vermont because he is a New Englander and Virginia by default.
Virginia is by default because two of the three others left in the race, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, failed to qualify for the Virginia ballot. Only Crazy Uncle Ron Paul will be on the ballot with Mr. Romney in the Old Dominion state.
For Rick Santorum, he should win the following states:
Oklahoma and Tennesee.
A win in both states is a huge boost to Mr. Santorum's claim that he is the last viable conservative standing between Mr. Romney and the Republican presidential nomination.
Ron Paul, yes Crazy Uncle Ron, has a chance to win two states because they are caucus states and they are:
Alaska and North Dakota.
Crazy Uncle Ron has a better chance in Alaska than North Dakota. But one can never rule out a win for the libertarian in North Dakota.
Newt Gingrich will only win one state:
Georgia.
It will not be much of a win because it is his home state. A loss there and it is totally over for the former Speaker of the House.
And that leaves one race that I do not have a prediction on.
And that is Ohio as Mr. Santorum's once solid lead has evaporated and Mr. Romney is closing in.
If I had to get out of a room and only could choosing one of the two, I will give the edge to Mr. Santorum. But not one with a great deal of confidence.
And that is because like it or not, Mr. Santorum has been knocked off message and some of it is his own doing.
I like the fact that he is unabashed about being a true so con. But to win Ohio, one must know that it is all about the economy, the economy, the economy.
And yes, I do know that the leftywhore media has amped up the coverage of Mr. Santorum on social issues. But there is no reason to take the bait. Mr. Santorum has to realize that the leftywhore media is going after him on these issues. And he must learn how to force the conversation back to the economy. That is why I think Mr. Romney has gained ground and might, might just pull off the win in Ohio.
But please fellow conservatives and Republicans, it will not end tonight.
Unless Mr. Romney wins six or more states, it will continue to be a race of attrition and no one has to drop out just yet.
So tonight the results will be a mixed bag and a lot for us to chew on in the upcoming days and yes, weeks.
Today voters in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia will vote as to who they think should be the GOP presidential nominee and who should get the delegates.
So, a scorecard is needed as to who can win, where and why.
Lets start with Mitt Romney and the following states he should win today:
Idaho, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia.
Mr. Romney should win Idaho with ease as it in the Mormon trifecta-Nevada and Utah being the other heavily-populated Mormon states. Massachusetts is his current home state. Vermont because he is a New Englander and Virginia by default.
Virginia is by default because two of the three others left in the race, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, failed to qualify for the Virginia ballot. Only Crazy Uncle Ron Paul will be on the ballot with Mr. Romney in the Old Dominion state.
For Rick Santorum, he should win the following states:
Oklahoma and Tennesee.
A win in both states is a huge boost to Mr. Santorum's claim that he is the last viable conservative standing between Mr. Romney and the Republican presidential nomination.
Ron Paul, yes Crazy Uncle Ron, has a chance to win two states because they are caucus states and they are:
Alaska and North Dakota.
Crazy Uncle Ron has a better chance in Alaska than North Dakota. But one can never rule out a win for the libertarian in North Dakota.
Newt Gingrich will only win one state:
Georgia.
It will not be much of a win because it is his home state. A loss there and it is totally over for the former Speaker of the House.
And that leaves one race that I do not have a prediction on.
And that is Ohio as Mr. Santorum's once solid lead has evaporated and Mr. Romney is closing in.
If I had to get out of a room and only could choosing one of the two, I will give the edge to Mr. Santorum. But not one with a great deal of confidence.
And that is because like it or not, Mr. Santorum has been knocked off message and some of it is his own doing.
I like the fact that he is unabashed about being a true so con. But to win Ohio, one must know that it is all about the economy, the economy, the economy.
And yes, I do know that the leftywhore media has amped up the coverage of Mr. Santorum on social issues. But there is no reason to take the bait. Mr. Santorum has to realize that the leftywhore media is going after him on these issues. And he must learn how to force the conversation back to the economy. That is why I think Mr. Romney has gained ground and might, might just pull off the win in Ohio.
But please fellow conservatives and Republicans, it will not end tonight.
Unless Mr. Romney wins six or more states, it will continue to be a race of attrition and no one has to drop out just yet.
So tonight the results will be a mixed bag and a lot for us to chew on in the upcoming days and yes, weeks.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Big Night For Romney
It appears that Mitt Romney will have won both the Arizona and Michigan Republican primaries tonight setting the stage for a possible Super Tuesday blowout next week.
In Michigan, which is the home state of Mr. Romney, he had to fight for his political life against former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.
Mr. Romney appears to have won that race by the slim margin of 41% to 38%. And the odd thing is that Mr. Santorum could end up with the majority of delegates. This is due to the fact that the Michigan Republican party is awarding delegates proportionately based on congressional districts. And if one looks at the map linked here, going over the counties, Mr. Romney essentially won Detroit and the suburbs and Mr. Santorum almost everywhere else. It is because of that Mr. Santorum could possibly end up ahead in delegates. And that makes it possible for him to claim a victory. It looked like Mr. Romney would carry Michigan by a huge margin only to have it slip away and almost lose totally to Mr. Santorum.
In Arizona, it is not even close as Mr. Romney swept the state. Not a county went for anyone but Mr. Romney. Mr Santorum appears to have been second place everywhere in the state. Mr. Romney has 47% of the vote and Mr. Santorum has 27% in 'Zona.
While Mr. Romney has every right and should celebrate his wins, especially Michigan, there are still some bad signs for the now back in the front runner status.
For one, there is no doubt that Mr. Santorum is now the anti-Romney. If you average out the votes in the two contests, essentially Mr. Romney had about 44% of votes and Mr. Santorum about 33%. The race is for sure between these two candidates.
Secondly, Mr. Romney once again did not break the psychological number 50% in these contests. Arizona did edge him closer with 47%, but no overwhelming win means that there is still a lot of doubts among Republican primary voters.
Republicans are not paying attention to the pundit and conservative elite classes telling them they have to end it now and coronate Mr. Romney.
And we should keep this fight going.
To simply listen to those that do not want to actually have this debate about what the Republican party stands for is a recipe for eventual electoral disaster in November.
If it is Mitt Romney, his retorical skills are only increased. And having him stand clearly on the issues will only be to his benefit.
If is is Mr. Santorum, we will see whether or not a strong conservative can use a blue collar background to talk the language of one Ronald Reagan and bring the wavering Reagan Democrats back in the Republican fold.
Tonight's results are exciting and a big night for Mr. Romney and probably puts him closer to the GOP nomination. But it is going to be a fight to the finish and that is the way that it should be.
In Michigan, which is the home state of Mr. Romney, he had to fight for his political life against former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.
Mr. Romney appears to have won that race by the slim margin of 41% to 38%. And the odd thing is that Mr. Santorum could end up with the majority of delegates. This is due to the fact that the Michigan Republican party is awarding delegates proportionately based on congressional districts. And if one looks at the map linked here, going over the counties, Mr. Romney essentially won Detroit and the suburbs and Mr. Santorum almost everywhere else. It is because of that Mr. Santorum could possibly end up ahead in delegates. And that makes it possible for him to claim a victory. It looked like Mr. Romney would carry Michigan by a huge margin only to have it slip away and almost lose totally to Mr. Santorum.
In Arizona, it is not even close as Mr. Romney swept the state. Not a county went for anyone but Mr. Romney. Mr Santorum appears to have been second place everywhere in the state. Mr. Romney has 47% of the vote and Mr. Santorum has 27% in 'Zona.
While Mr. Romney has every right and should celebrate his wins, especially Michigan, there are still some bad signs for the now back in the front runner status.
For one, there is no doubt that Mr. Santorum is now the anti-Romney. If you average out the votes in the two contests, essentially Mr. Romney had about 44% of votes and Mr. Santorum about 33%. The race is for sure between these two candidates.
Secondly, Mr. Romney once again did not break the psychological number 50% in these contests. Arizona did edge him closer with 47%, but no overwhelming win means that there is still a lot of doubts among Republican primary voters.
Republicans are not paying attention to the pundit and conservative elite classes telling them they have to end it now and coronate Mr. Romney.
And we should keep this fight going.
To simply listen to those that do not want to actually have this debate about what the Republican party stands for is a recipe for eventual electoral disaster in November.
If it is Mitt Romney, his retorical skills are only increased. And having him stand clearly on the issues will only be to his benefit.
If is is Mr. Santorum, we will see whether or not a strong conservative can use a blue collar background to talk the language of one Ronald Reagan and bring the wavering Reagan Democrats back in the Republican fold.
Tonight's results are exciting and a big night for Mr. Romney and probably puts him closer to the GOP nomination. But it is going to be a fight to the finish and that is the way that it should be.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Arizona And Michigan For The GOP Will Be A Split Decision
Tomorrow Republican voters in Arizona and Michigan will go to the polls and vote in their respective primaries.
And your humble blogger sees a split decision in tomorrow's results.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will win in Arizona. And probably with ease.
But, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum will pull off the upset in Michigan and that will be a lot closer.
In fact if we look at the Real Clear Politics average for Michigan, it appears that Mr. Romney has about a 1.5 percent average lead in polls. That is well within the margin of error and I think Michigan's results could go on a long time tomorrow night. Think of Iowa earlier this year. And the same result will probably occur and that is a Rick Santorum win.
The odds are with Mr. Santorum for one reason. His appeal to blue collar voters. And maybe Team Romney can think that is not all that important, but come general election time, he will need to convince those voters to stay in the R column if he is the nominee.
And yes, in another lifetime, Mr. Romney's dad, George Romney, was governor, but that was a different time and a lifetime ago. I am afraid it will not help Mr. Romney this time.
In Arizona, it looks like clear sailing. Again, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Mr. Romney has a 13-point lead.
And I do think that the endorsement of Arizona governor Jan Brewer is a plus that will help Mr. Romney on this border state.
So at the end of the evening, it will be a wash. But, if Mr. Romney does win Arizona, it is a winner-take-all state. And that is 46 delegates. If Mr. Santorum wins Michigan, he has to win big and all over because it is not a winner-take-all state. In fact, a close result could end up still being a sort of win for Mr. Romney because of the allocation of delegates.
So what is going to happen is look for this race to continue at least until next Tuesday. And that is Super Tuesday.
A split decision will insure that this does not end anytime soon.
And your humble blogger sees a split decision in tomorrow's results.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will win in Arizona. And probably with ease.
But, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum will pull off the upset in Michigan and that will be a lot closer.
In fact if we look at the Real Clear Politics average for Michigan, it appears that Mr. Romney has about a 1.5 percent average lead in polls. That is well within the margin of error and I think Michigan's results could go on a long time tomorrow night. Think of Iowa earlier this year. And the same result will probably occur and that is a Rick Santorum win.
The odds are with Mr. Santorum for one reason. His appeal to blue collar voters. And maybe Team Romney can think that is not all that important, but come general election time, he will need to convince those voters to stay in the R column if he is the nominee.
And yes, in another lifetime, Mr. Romney's dad, George Romney, was governor, but that was a different time and a lifetime ago. I am afraid it will not help Mr. Romney this time.
In Arizona, it looks like clear sailing. Again, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Mr. Romney has a 13-point lead.
And I do think that the endorsement of Arizona governor Jan Brewer is a plus that will help Mr. Romney on this border state.
So at the end of the evening, it will be a wash. But, if Mr. Romney does win Arizona, it is a winner-take-all state. And that is 46 delegates. If Mr. Santorum wins Michigan, he has to win big and all over because it is not a winner-take-all state. In fact, a close result could end up still being a sort of win for Mr. Romney because of the allocation of delegates.
So what is going to happen is look for this race to continue at least until next Tuesday. And that is Super Tuesday.
A split decision will insure that this does not end anytime soon.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Santorum Three For Three Tonight!
In a possible real turning point to the Republican presidential nomination Death March, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum scored a clean sweep of three contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri tonight.
In Colorado and Minnesota it was caucus night and Mr. Santorum won in Colorado with about 40% of the caucus vote. In Minnesota Mr. Santorum scored 47% of the caucus vote.
But the big result is the primary in Missouri where Mr. Santorum got 55% of the vote.
The reason that Missouri is a big deal is the fact that Mr. Santorum won every single county in the state. No one else did. Not Mitt Romney. Not Ron Paul. And certainly not Newt Gingrich, who was not on the ballot here.
Now, you will hear that there were no delegates chosen in any of the three races.
That is true. But the results should give the eventual delegates to Mr. Santorum.
It would not be cool to have these contests and at a later date choose delegates at state and or county conventions that the voters did not favor.
Several things come out of tonight's votes.
One, Mr. Santorum is now the last conservative standing. Newt Gingrich is fading like the Hindenburg did over Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937.
Two, for all the talk of the Ron Paul campaign being masters of the caucus process, my question is this.
Wha happen?!
Second place or third is not a sign of great organization as far as I can tell.
Three, now the Leftywhore media will start having to take Mr. Santorum seriously. He has won in four states. Mr. Gingrich, the Leftywhore and even some conservative media favorite has only won in one state. South Carolina.
Four, Mitt Romney needs to desperately step it up if he is going to be the eventual Republican presidential nominee.
What tonight proves is that in this election season, nothing is absolute on the Republican side. And that while this race started with a lot of candidates, the last three, and yeah, Crazy Uncle Ron Paul, are he most serious ones.
Saturday is the caucus in Maine. Mr. Romney should win there. But again, if tonight is any indication, Mr. Santorum could provide some fireworks.
Now, I do not hear it, but maybe Mr. Santorum should tell Mr. Gingrich to get out of the race and not to stand in the way of the clear conservative alternative. But, unlike the classless Mr. Gingrich, I do not think that you will hear this from Mr. Santorum.
We are now down to two men who are the serious fighters for the Republican presidential nomination.
They are Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
And tonight's results put Mr. Santorum in the game for sure and maybe for keeps.
In Colorado and Minnesota it was caucus night and Mr. Santorum won in Colorado with about 40% of the caucus vote. In Minnesota Mr. Santorum scored 47% of the caucus vote.
But the big result is the primary in Missouri where Mr. Santorum got 55% of the vote.
The reason that Missouri is a big deal is the fact that Mr. Santorum won every single county in the state. No one else did. Not Mitt Romney. Not Ron Paul. And certainly not Newt Gingrich, who was not on the ballot here.
Now, you will hear that there were no delegates chosen in any of the three races.
That is true. But the results should give the eventual delegates to Mr. Santorum.
It would not be cool to have these contests and at a later date choose delegates at state and or county conventions that the voters did not favor.
Several things come out of tonight's votes.
One, Mr. Santorum is now the last conservative standing. Newt Gingrich is fading like the Hindenburg did over Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937.
Two, for all the talk of the Ron Paul campaign being masters of the caucus process, my question is this.
Wha happen?!
Second place or third is not a sign of great organization as far as I can tell.
Three, now the Leftywhore media will start having to take Mr. Santorum seriously. He has won in four states. Mr. Gingrich, the Leftywhore and even some conservative media favorite has only won in one state. South Carolina.
Four, Mitt Romney needs to desperately step it up if he is going to be the eventual Republican presidential nominee.
What tonight proves is that in this election season, nothing is absolute on the Republican side. And that while this race started with a lot of candidates, the last three, and yeah, Crazy Uncle Ron Paul, are he most serious ones.
Saturday is the caucus in Maine. Mr. Romney should win there. But again, if tonight is any indication, Mr. Santorum could provide some fireworks.
Now, I do not hear it, but maybe Mr. Santorum should tell Mr. Gingrich to get out of the race and not to stand in the way of the clear conservative alternative. But, unlike the classless Mr. Gingrich, I do not think that you will hear this from Mr. Santorum.
We are now down to two men who are the serious fighters for the Republican presidential nomination.
They are Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
And tonight's results put Mr. Santorum in the game for sure and maybe for keeps.
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