The Winding Road To The Republican Nomination For President

C'mon, grownups at A2K....

Are y'all really, REALLY gonna act like he didn't start to say nigger?

Over at Balloon Juice, they call it the 'Ni-CLANG' award. Santorum is just the latest guy to win.

Cycloptichorn

Given the extent to which successful acting skills are important not just to such a campaign, but to the office for those who win it, it's appalling that he would be so lame. Tell me again how he got this far?

nope

Base hates Romney and know in their hearts that he can't beat Obama. Especially evangelicals. That opens the door for this loser.

Cycloptichorn

I just figured he was preaching to his choir.

You know, Guys, that's the problem with the entire field, they are trying to appeal to a narrow, reactionary lunatic fringe, to establish their "conservative credentials," but to win, they need traditional Republican voters (and need not to turn them off) and they need independent/undecided voters to--whom they need to impress as well as not turning them off. It's an impossible task. I've already decided that unless an unlooked for, horrible disaster occurs, the Republicans are screwed this go round.

That's why i was musing earlier on a true Republican dark horse in 2016--nobody from this crew will have a hope in hell this year, never mind in four years.

Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels and (perhaps) Jeb are the anticipated class of 2016.

If the they are the possible candidates in 2016, i doubt they'll do any better. They'll have to play to the lunatic fringe, too, and are no more likely to appeal to the independent/undecided voters. They need someone new who can appeal to that group, and successfully ignore the tea baggers.

Jeb might qualify under that definition if he had a different last name.

Of course, i could be way out in left field on this, but what i suspect will happen is that Romney gets the nomination and gets his clock cleaned. If you had someone like Santorum and he got buried, it might mean the end of the lunatic fringe's influence in the party. But if it's Romney, and he gets beat, you'll have the tea baggers saying i told you so, and their influence will likely continue. A dark horse, though, who is strong enough, can ignore tham. As it stands right now, the candidates are hostages to the tea bagger hysteria.

It's like that scene in Blazing Saddles. "He's a ni-!"

A slow news day on the political front.
The "recall" election in Wisconsin could be an indicator of the power of the Tea Party movement as we move towards the general election in November.
I can thumb-nail that if anyone is interested. Or not.
Someone else could also take a whack at it.

Next up in the primary cycle are Wisconsin and Maryland (along with D.C.) on April 3rd. Polls have Romney ahead in both states by 7 points, with Gingrich and Paul way behind.
Does that mean the race for the nomination is over? Probably.
Does that mean that Santorum, Gingrich and Paul will withdraw? Probably not.
There will be now be a long lull in the nomination cycle. Missouri will be up on 4/21 followed by a bunch of states on 4/24. Some of them are southern states, where Santorum and Gingrich might do better.

Politico reports that an anti-Romney person challenged the candidate about his Mormonism today in WI. Two statements were made (which went over my head) with Romney asking for a question. The one he got was "Do you believe it is a sin for a white man to marry and procreate with a black?"
Romney responded with a curt "no."
He came back to his faith a few minutes later.
He handled the situation well.

Snatorum MUST win Pa or he may seppuku his ass

Killing time for a couple or three hours before polls close in Maryland, D.C. and Wisconsin. WI is likely to be the only race that it is at all competitive, but the latest polls there have Romney ahead by 7 points over Santorum. It could be a point or so closer but, all in all, it should be a good night for Romney. He is likely to rack up most of the 90+ delegates available in the 3 primaries.
A headline (which I admit I wrote):
-- Dems Cry "Fowl" Over Sub Handout--
Romney handed out free turkey sub sandwiches at a shop in Wisconsin today for about a half an hour. It turns out that candidates for office are not allowed to give stuff to voters worth more than $1 (e.g. bumper stickers are okay). The sandwiches retail at around $5.
Rep Paul Ryan was at his side giving away ham and cheese subs.
Evidently vegetarians got nothing.

It appears that Romney has this nomination sown up.

I'm listening to talking heads who are clearly looking forward to 2016; Dem and Repubs alike. It almost seems as a given that it's a Romney vs Obama general election and that Obama will win because... um, well, it appears to be obvious. Those who are looking ahead to 2016 are starting to make a lot of noise. Do we really have to have political rhetoric that looks beyond the next general election?!?!??

Forget sandwiches...I'm waiting for "A car elevator in every garage!!!"