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One thing other than delegates that Mitt Romney brings to the table is his personal fortune. The fact is that in these primaries, both Hillary and Obama have accumulated far more contributions than any of the Republicans. Much of this money comes from corporate contributors who are betting that this will be a Democratic year. It is said that money is the mother's milk of politics. Mitt Romney has money, not as much as a Ross Perot or a Michael Bloomberg, but still sufficient to provide some offset to the imbalance in favor of the Democrats. If Romney is McCain's vice presidential choice, the Arizona senator will have a better funded campaign.

The Republicans must deal with the likelihood of considerable defections to the Libertarian and Constitution Parties and to apathy. If Ron Paul runs on either or both of the lines, he may get at least 5% of the vote. If the two parties run the usual unknown people, the combined percentage may be 2%, but still higher than the 1/2% they will get on a combined basis. Evangelical Christian participation will dip, as it did in the 1990s when lower turnout among evangelicals helped sink the elder Bush's re-election drive in 1992 and Bob Dole's run in 1996. All the whining about the evils of Obama or Hillary will not work any better than ranting against Bill Clinton did in 1996. Disaffection is higher than in the past. States Bush carried in 2004 like Virginia, Colorado, and Nevada will be in jeopardy.

McCain is an underdog to begin with, but the recent Obama surge may be a blessing. He may be able to appeal to blue collar and rural whites and Hispanics who are traditional Democrats but have been lukewarm to Obama. We may see states like Michigan, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania go Republican, even though the GOP loses states like Virginia and Colorado.