Mitt Mo Mounts Over Michigan

nypost.com ^ | July 26, 2008 | Robert Novak

[Free ThinkerNY]

THE principal reason why former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has climbed to the top of Sen. John McCain's wish list for vice president is the possibility that he could bring Michigan's 17 electoral votes to the Republicans for the first time since 1988.

Private polls show Romney could make all the difference in Michigan. A McCain-Romney ticket carries the state by a moderately comfortable margin.

[LonePalm]

What benefit a McCain if he gain Michigan but lose the South?

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[StAnDeliver]

I hate to copy-paste, but I'm going to make an exception...

While Barry is running for Herr Diktator of Deutschland, McCain is busy flipping flippable Michigan.

How deeply ironic that a no-good pimp-hustler like Kwamathugee will be the one to deny Barry his coronation.

The Michigan people are proud, and they won't stand for hard-core corruption that reaches all the way from Detroit to the Statehouse in Lansing. The last two polls (within the last two months) that asked Michiganders if Michigan is heading in the wrong direction? 81% & 66%!

Believe it, my FReeper FRiend, Zieg Axelrot and his cadre are scared shitless as their internals relentlessly tip Michigan to McCrisis, and they know they are *hit up the creek without a paddle when that happens -- there's no winning scenario for them when MI goes red on Nov. 4.

[comebacknewt]

If McCain does win Michigan, it is hard to even imagine a scenario where Barack wins the general.

I'm pretty skeptical Mitt could actually deliver the state, but he seems as good a choice as any of the other names I have heard floated.

[Paleo Conservative]

What benefit a McCain if he gain Michigan but lose the South?

What? And vote for Obamanation? I voted for Mitt in the Texas primary.

[TNCMAXQ]

Whatever happened to former Gov John Engler? He was talked about as a presidential candidate his own self back around 2000. He managed to get reelected there twice with over 60% of the vote. I have not heard any talk about him being McCain’s running mate so perhaps he has been ruled out. But I wonder if he should be considered.

[LdSentinal]

Lose the South to whom?

[Parley Baer]

Let us keep out eye on the ball here. The Supreme court is at stake. The 5-4 vote on the 2nd Amendment is a wake up call to all including the nay sayers here on FR.

[Parley Baer]

out=our. Hate when that happens. Hehehe.

[Zhang Fei]

I seriously favor Romney as a VP candidate. I believe him when he says he had to run to the left in Massachusetts to get elected there. Once he gets into national office as VP, he’ll be fresh out of excuses (at least with me). We’ll get to size up his conservative credentials before he goes up for the big game - the next presidential primaries.

[StAnDeliver]

Romney won MN and MI. Schmidt's going to flip the Rust Belt with Romney or Pawlenty (who was campaigning in the UPer this week), and Axelrot knows it.

[tflabo]

I’m no expert nor Michigan resident but the state has a heavy black and muslim populace heavily favorable to Oblahma.
McCain with Romney would need to flip a lot of white Dem voters to grab the state it seems. No doubt the current DemRat pols have screwed up Michigan badly!

[Zhang Fei]

All Federal dictators-for-life judges are nominated by the President. With McCain, we can be sure that they'll be less liberal than with Obama.

[johnnycap]

McCain and Hiillary are very good private friends (did you know that?). A McCain Clinton ticket would end the Obama candidacy. That would also set up a Romney-Clinton campaign in 2012 as McCain would exit after one term.

If McCain really wants to “scramble the jets”. That is the choice he would make and he would wait until after Obama dissed Hillary at the connvention so the PUMAs are nice and frothy.

[Zhang Fei]

Arabs are 1% of Michigan’s population. Blacks are 14%. Most Arabs are Christian. In fact, some Christian Arabs (especially Lebanese) don’t see themselves as Arabic, so much as subject peoples of Arab conquerors. In the Arab world itself, Christians say what they have to say in order to make a living, or simply to stay alive.

[Captain Kirk]

The McCainites are so desperate to elect McCain that they are willing to put Hitlery just a heart beat from the presidency. Amazing. Those who vote for McCain have a moral obligation to ACCEPT BLAME for his actions as president.

[comebacknewt]

Do those who refuse to vote for him have a moral obligation to accept blame for Obama’s actions as President?

[KavMan]

So what? You want Obama as President?

I’ll go for a McCain Hillary ticket if it gaurantee’s Obama isn’t President. McCain will still have all the power..

[comebacknewt]

Come on. Hillary is not going to be on the ticket.

That would be political suicide for both of them.

[greyfoxx39]

Borrowing from your graphic:

[Sooth2222]

Oil prices, oil prices and oil prices. Romney needs to live in the rust belt and hammer energy and its effect on jobs and people's lives for the next 3 months. When do the snowbelt states usually get their first home oil deliveries? If people like filling a 20 gallon gas tank, they're going to love filling a 275 gallon home heating oil tank.

MI (17) + PA (21) + NH (4) = 42.

VA (13) + NM (5) + NV (5) + CO (9) = 32.

This is not a "Hail Mary pass". People will vote their wallets. Maybe Obama can convince voters that he can turn water into oil, but he can't and I'm hoping most people have more sense than that.

[greyfoxx39]

I’ll go for a McCain Hillary ticket if it gaurantee’s Obama isn’t President. McCain will still have all the power..

Are you forgetting "Arkancide"? However.....I'm almost to the point of preferring Hillary to Obama given the events of the past week. ;(

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Whatever happened to former Gov John Engler?

Wow, I completely forgot about Engler. He's only 60 years old, has 3 terms under his belt, he was a solid Republican. I could go for him being picked for VP.

[Captain Kirk]

So what? Does this mean that you personally accept partial blame for McCain’s actions as president? All McCain votes, IMHO, have this moral obligation.

[rdb3]

Do those who refuse to vote for him have a moral obligation to accept blame for Obama’s actions as President?

Excellent counter.

[goldfinch]

Those who vote for McCain have a moral obligation to ACCEPT BLAME for his actions as president.

And those who do not vote for McCain have a moral obligation to ACCEPT BLAME for Obama's actions as President. Fair enough?

[goldfinch]

You beat me to it. :)

[Zevonismymuse]

I’ll go for a McCain Hillary ticket if it gaurantee’s Obama isn’t President. McCain will still have all the power..

What about a McCain/Streisand ticket? Or how about if McCain puts Michael Moore on the ticket?

[LonePalm]

All y'all need to chill.

My post was prompted by a post I saw earlier this week saying that McCain's own internal polling showed that picking Mitt, whom I like, would cost him serious votes in the South.

I am a Southerner myself. I do not think that they would vote for BO because McCain put Romney on the ticket but I do think that enough might simply NOT vote for President rather than vote for a Mormon. Again, this is not what I would do.

I dislike McCain for many reasons and had him one step above RuPaul on my list for the Republican nomination. I will hold my nose and vote for him in November because he is still better than ANY of the Democrats.

My first choice was Fred Thompson.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

McCain will still have all the power.

With Clinton as VP? ROFL

[Captain Kirk]

A vote is an affirmative choice, if it means anything at all. A non-vote is simply a choice to stay out of the process.

You're the one who is putting your vote on the line, not me. All I ask is can you take the the heat from the consequences of your actions?

I suspect your retort will be the following: staying home is ONE vote for Obama. If so, please answer this question: if I vote for Barr (instead of staying home) does this mean, according to your logic, that I have cast TWO votes for Obama.

Again, are you willing to accept the BLAME right now for McCain's actions as president. A simple no or yes please.

[FrankR]

Well, I’d rather have a Morman than a muslim in the White House...at least Romney probably has a legal birth certificate that certifies him as American born.

[Big Horn]

Bring it on. I will be happy to vote for a third rate fireman before I would vote for a first rate arsonist.
I used another posters quote here thank you.

[I see my hands]

Can you imagine what an absolute shoo-in Romney/Palin would have been?

[johnnycap]

I knew the Hillary comment would raise ire, but remember...nothing good gets done if McCain loses...the damage of Obama-Reid-Pelosi looming out there as a real possibility calls for a win at all cost attitude. Hey, if McCain can win the presidency and put Hillary on a four year tour of state funerals in 186 countries, I call that a small price to pay. Make Romney Secretary of the Treasury and announce it during the campaign.

[Captain Kirk]

Not at all. I value my vote highly. It is not to be used lightly and when I use it, it represents an affirmative statement of my views and of PERSONAL responsibility. If you see staying home and voting as the same thing, you apparently regard the act of voting as a trivial activity. For more, see 31

[rdb3]

I suspect...

You may suspect anything you want. But my point was and still is sound. That was a very good counter.

I have nothing to prove.

[Captain Kirk]

If the third rate fireman turns out to be an arsonist (and his record indicates he might be) are you willing to accept personal responsibility for the actions that result?

[Captain Kirk]

I answered the question. Will you accept personal blame for McCain’s actions as president?

[Miss Didi]

Nice title...I love alliteration. ;)

[shrinkermd]

Minnesota did not have a primary. Romney spent a lot of money and his organization influenced the caucus goers.

[Diogenesis]

Romney as VP will lose. Read the tea leaves, below.

"Despite outspending his rivals by huge margins throughout the primaries,
(Romney) lost Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and California.
The only primaries he won were in Michigan, where Dad was governor; LDS states;
and a few states on Super Tuesday in which his California-obsessed rivals
couldn't spare the cash to advertise.
Only John Connolly in 1968 had a worse cash-to-delegates ratio.
And John McCain rightly did not like Romney's tactics during the primaries.
(W)hen (Romney's early leads) started slipping away, he resorted to unfair,
distorted, scorched-earth negative ads, betting that his opponents couldn't
afford to spend enough for the truth to catch up to his charges."
[Romney: A Mistake for McCain, 7/23/2008, Dick Morris]

"But while choosing Romney to be his running mate would make Washington journalists happy,
it would be nothing short of political suicide for McCain."
[McCain Should Say No to Mitt; The American Spectator 2008-07-24]

The problem is that Romney's supporters are too few (though vocal).
Those Americans that KNOW the real Romney will be turned off by the final slap in their face by Sen.McCain.

.

OTOH, the "Warrior and the Woman" can Win BIG
as a very large fraction of the pro-Hillary frustrated Democrat women
crossover in each of the 50 --not 57 Obama-- states.

[MHGinTN]

Romney is whom the DNC would love to have McCain add to his ticket. Then the race baiters (read Obama campaign goons) can hang all sorts of racial accusations on Romney via his connection to the racial past of Mormonism. It’s specious, but the democrat voters who might otherwise stay home or vote McCain or Nader will be ‘empowered’ to support ‘the black guy’. Disgusting don’tchaknow. And as per your handle, Newt carries too much ‘morality’ baggage to be a via VP choice. Again, despicable since Newt’s abilities are precisely what McCain and the Republicans running in House and Senate races need this election. Perhaps if McCain put Romney on the ticket, and Mitt wore himself out appearing with House and Seante candidates, the race baiting would be negated by his personability. I certainly would hope so, but who knows?

[MHGinTN]

The clinton crime family is more about criminal enterprise than socialism. We The People can recover from that sludge. Whereas, the obamessiah is all about bringing this nation down to european standards, as he proved with his obamanation spittlefest this week. I’m not convinced the Republic can withsatnd an all out assault to make this nation a socialist experiement again ... too many sucking the teets of state alreeady and obamessiah will extend the numbers to maintain a majority voting constituency while dismantling our military. THAT has deadly consequences.

[MHGinTN]

Sorry about the spelling errors, flying fingers.

[Paleo Conservative]

My post was prompted by a post I saw earlier this week saying that McCain's own internal polling showed that picking Mitt, whom I like, would cost him serious votes in the South.

I really don't understand this. When he was governor of MA, he probably had to make compromises with the legislature that people in other states wouldn't like. Get over it. We're supposed to have a federal system where voters, state, and local governments in the various states make their own policies. The problem with the DemocRATS and the Bush administration is that they want to impose the policies that are popular in their respective strongholds on the rest of the country. In both cases they want to expand federal power at the expense of state and local governments.

The biggest problem the Republican party faces is that it is rapidly becoming only a Southern party. One of the reasons I have favored for the last 4 years putting Romney on the ticket is to help Republicans regain some of the northern swing states we have been conceeding in the last several election cycles.

While I like Cheney and think he is very competent, I think it was a serious mistake to make him W's running mate in 2000. He added no states to the Republican column that weren't already going to go Republican, and we won that election by the barest of margins. Cheney would have been a good choice for quite a number of cabinet positions rather than Vice President.

McCain needs to choose a Vice President that can help him pick off some of the states that the DemocRATS have been winning by 5% or less over the last several cycles. I think Romney has the best shot of that.

[Diogenesis]

Obama is caught in lies. Why give ammo to the other side??

“There is no vice... so contemptible; he who permits himself to tell a lie once,
finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time,
till at length it becomes habitual.”
Thomas Jefferson

[Paleo Conservative]

Obama is caught in lies. Why give ammo to the other side??

What ammo?

[Diogenesis]

pick a topic.

gay marriage?
socialized medicine?
liberal judges?
martin l king?
pseudo-conservatism?
phony law enforcement badges?
fake push polls?
unfair attacks on GOP candidates?
NRA endorsement for his governorship?
fake endorsement and citations?
umbrage against illegal aliens while employing them at home?

[Diogenesis]

"One would think no heir-to-George would pin blame on his eldest son
for the illegal immigrants working in the family garden. But Mitt did.
No loyal husband would gracelessly roll his own wife under the bus
("Her contributions are for her and not for me. Her positions are not
terrible [sic] relevant to my campaign.") to dodge accountability
for his own previous support for Planned Parenthood.
Mitt Romney is often his own worst enemy"
The Salt Lake Tribune 1-11/08