Amid uncertain GOP race, talk of a brokered convention

The Los Angeles Times ^ | February 22, 2012 | Michael A. Memoli

[Clintonfatigued]

As Romney's campaign has faltered and his candidacy has lost the aura of inevitability, there has been as much talk about the possibility of a white knight candidate making a late entry into the race as there is about one of the remaining three candidates emerging as the Republican nominee.

And then, there is the notion of the nomination being decided ultimately at a brokered convention, something that hasn't happened in decades. A loss by Romney in Michigan would probably only increase such speculation.

Why? Polls have shown that Republican voters are increasingly dissatisfied with the field of candidates. In a recent CNN poll, the number who were not very satisfied or not satisfied at all had jumped to 44%. In a January NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, more Republicans graded the GOP field as weak than strong.

A new Gallup poll shows that 55% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters wish someone else were running. But that same poll found that those voters would much rather have a nominee who had secured enough delegates to win the nomination before the August convention than to have the nomination decided in Tampa.

[Clintonfatigued]

There is dissatisfaction with the field and questions about the electability of all the major candidates.

[DugwayDuke]

Since he has the support of the GOP establishment, the most likely candidate to emerge from a brokered convention is Romney.

[VRWC For Truth]

The GOP problems are:

1. Amnesty - the GOP likes their cheap labor
2. Spending - the GOP has never CUT spending

None of these candidates have the stones to do the right thing for America. There is not one dime's worth of difference between the the GOP and the DNC.

[EternalVigilance]

An awful lot of trouble and expense to go to, when we already know from hard experience it all leads nowhere.