Posted on 01/11/2008 11:24:25 AM PST by Checkers
If John McCain is somehow prevented from winning the nomination, it wont be because of his fellow candidates.
Last night, the rest of the field refused to lay a glove on McCain. Many conservatives I talk to still assume he will fall of his own weight. And, truth be told, the other campaigns visceral dislike of Mitt Romney is blinding them to the need for a strong voice to articulate the conservative bases deep distrust of McCain.
For McCain, a seemingly impossible confluence of events have had the effect of parting the waters for his previously treacherous path to the nomination.
First, McCain emerged from the back of the pack. The conservative establishment didnt know if this was serious or not, so they didnt organize. At the outset, Romney probably found this useful to knock off Rudy in NH. Then Rudy decided he didnt have the warewithal to challenge his friend McCain in a pro-choice, Northeastern state.
In Iowa too, Huckabee used McCain as a club to bash Romney. Romney only started attacking McCain in late December, and then only on McCains home field of New Hampshire.
Okay, I can see letting New Hampshire slip. That happened in 2000. But certainly South Carolina could be counted on finish him off for us. Is McCain getting any heat there?
Not much.
Mitt Romney has to save himself first, and hes doing that in Michigan. That probably necessitates a pivot to a more positive message. Like other cash-strapped candidates, hes counting on Huckabee to finish the job in SC. Its also probably too late for any 527s to get going.
(Excerpt) Read more at hughhewitt.townhall.com ...
Heck, forget the Hoi Polloi, a lot of the good freepers here have become a lot less concerned about CFR and the assault of the 1st amendment since their standard-bearer turned out to be a chief sponsor of the legislation who at best will simply re-write the parts that the courts already found unconstitutional.
Maybe; he seems better, except he's been shilling for McCain a lot on Fox lately.
I guess you decided you might as well join Petronski, so now the two of you can both sell something nobody is buying.
Mitt isn’t running negative ads in Michigan because he wants to win Michigan, and attacking McCain will cost him votes in Michigan. It’s a simple political decision as to what is the best way to get your message out. In Michigan, Mitt has determined that his best chance to win is to sell himself, rather than attack McCain.
Maybe Fred is making the same decision in South Carolina, although I would think in SC the way to beat McCain would be to go after him on Amnesty. Of course, Freds got some time to do that still.
For McCain everything is personal. He holds a grudge against anyone who differs with him.
You don't go a long way without money. If Fred finishes lower than 2nd, I think he is finished. He will find it very difficult to raise money.
Granted, Thompson needs a good showing. After last night, I think Id be surprised if Huck beats Thompson in SC. Thompson may lose to McCain ... but I dont think hell lose to Huck.
How many uncommitted voters or voters in SC for that matter watched the debate? And how many share your opinion that Fred outperformed the Huckster? What wins in the primaries is organization and money. Fred and the Huckster are competing for many of the same voters. I hope that Fred receives a big bounce, but I am skeptical with the election just a week away.
Huckabee's natural base is the South. His act won't play in the Northeast or the Far West and will have limited success in the Midwest. McCain's strength is just the opposite and there are far more delegates in those areas. McCain's strategy has been to eliminate Romney first, have Huckabee and Thompson fight over the delegates in the South, and go against Rudy in the Northeast and the West Coast. With Romney out, McCain thinks he can knock out who ever emerges from the Huckabee-Thompson battle and he doesn't fear Rudy.
I might add that McCain will have some appeal in the South as well. He is leading in SC and should be competitive in FL against Rudy.
Romney’s clearing the way for Thompson to beat the cr*p out of ... HUCKABEE.
You see if Romney wins MI and NV, but not SC, he’s still going to be #1 in delegate and still in the game in FL and beyond. ... the question is then who drops out? ...
It will be Huckabee vs Thompson for the right to be the third wheel in a Mccain v Romney v ??? race.
Imagine if Mccain is #1, thompson #2 in SC ... Huck in 3rd...
Means HUCK IS TOAST.
With HUCK out of the way, Thompson can re-emerge and make his case to the value voters. THE MOST NATURAL VOTER BASE FOR THOMPSON TO WIN ARE THE HUCK VOTERS.
And Romney will help him do it.
It’s clear to anyone that McCain and Huckabee have a ‘deal’ going for #1 and #2. Romney and Thompson need the same deal as well.
And BTW, you were right earlier when you said Romney wasnt going to drop out. There is no sense in him not staying at least through Super Tuesday. After all, this CLUSTERHUCK could end up with no clear frontrunner and a brokered convention. Dont throw the towel in until you are KO’d and your face is bleeding profusely.
Fresh from Thursday's debate in South Carolina, Romney lambasted his top rival in Michigan, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for stating that some of the jobs lost in Michigan will not be recovered. Singling out McCain, Romney told the audience: "I'm not willing to accept defeat like that." He added: "I'd like to say, 'What have you done, given the awareness you have of the one-state recession going on in this great state, which, when I was growing up, was the envy of the nation, and the powerhouse economically of the world. What have you done? What did they do when they were in the Senate and the House for 27 years? What action did you take?'
He didn't criticize anyone elseexcept Huckabee. It's gonna ramp up too... So much for your (wrong) hypothesis.
Will you go on the record as stating that any candidate who supports McCain after dropping out of the race is not a true conservative?
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