What is Fred's message?
Or Duncan's?
Or Rudy's?
Or Huckabee's?
Federalism. Return to basic Constitutional principles.
Or Duncan's?
Illegal immigration, the emerging China threat, fair trade, war on terror.
I don't give a rat's ass about Rudy or Huckabee.
Message is in the ear of the beholder — to your question, here are the snapshot messages I hear from the candidates you mentioned (outside of strong national defense, because I believe all the GOP candidates have that message — they just differ on the particular solution):
What is Fred’s message? Smaller federal government
Or Duncan’s? American protectionism (both jobs and borders)
Or Rudy’s? Law and order by any means necessary (I don’t actually support or even believe this message, because of Giuliani’s long history of Constitutional abuses, and the long history of law-breaking among his cronies)
Or Huckabee’s? I haven’t a clue
If I were to summarize the message I personally hear from Romney, it would be “business marketing and efficiency.” That has its pros and cons.
In my view, here are the pros: he would be good at creative marketing/selling ideas (something that W. usually lacks); he would be good at making government work more effectively.
And the cons: he would probably be more likely than even some other politicians to jump on an idea because it’s popular/marketable; and nothing in his predominantly business background has given him a worldview that would lead him to prioritize reining in the power of government. Cut the cost? Yes. Deliver services better and smarter? Yes. But not rein it back to Constitutional principles and turn existing federal powers back to the states. I just don’t see businesspeople thinking that way — the successful businesspeople I know without exception focus on customers, efficiency and growth.
In short, I can definitely see why Romney’s supporters like him. My personal issue is beating back the power of the federal government in every aspect except those enumerated in the Constitution, so he’s not my top candidate.
RE; Hunter’s message
I’ll give you the same answer the Mitt fans give me go look at his websites.
I’m still waiting to hear what Senator John Kerry’s “plan” was when he ran for President in ‘04! Senator Kerry would keep saying, “I’ve got a plan!”, and that’s it!