Byran, Hot Air, states the obvious:
Two primary wins, two seconds. No one else has been as broadly competitive so far. He has the most delegates and the most money in the bank, and he’s back to campaigning in South Carolina for Saturday’s primary. He’s in a statistical tie for second there. With four primary contests and three different winners, there isn’t a solid front-funner in the GOP but there is a front-runner for now, and that’s Mitt Romney.
As to Bryan’s question:
Am I the only one breathing a sigh of relief that the front-runner coming out of Michigan isn’t McCain or Huckabee?
Byran, you are not alone.
Note, I don’t like the idea of open primaries. I think that I have constitutional right as a republican to select an elector without any non-republcan voting in my primary. It is the right of free association.
In particular I don’t like Michigan’s open primary. John McCain imported Joe Lieberman to campaign for democrats and independent to vote for McCain. Are we as republicans somehow supposed to select our nominee based on the votes of democrats?
Tags: BitsBlog, Campaign, Democrat, Democrats, Elections, Hot Air, Huckabee, Johh McCain, John McCain, McCain, Michigan, Mitt Romeny, Mitt Romney, Money, NY, primaries, primary, Republican, Republicans, Romney, South, South Carolina, The GOP, UN
January 16th, 2008 at 8:10
It is an unfortunate manipulation of a right that should have some value as well. It should be easy to change party affiliation because it is easy to see the error of your ways (did I say that out loud?). Unfortunately, rights granted for the sake of the few can often be abused by the many and/or those that can see ways to manipulate it. Thus why at a national level we don’t have a pure democracy, lest the majority overwhelm the minority, or the large population centers abuse those in sparser areas. I think there could be better controls without sacrificing this flexibility by eliminating the concept of open primaries/caucuses. Here in Iowa, the Ron Paul supporters got in that way as well. The only thing worse than having our candidates picked by Dems is having them picked by Libertarians, Greens, Communists, or members of other extreme parties. It’s a little scary to think those groups have developed enough following to be more than a minor irritation.
January 16th, 2008 at 15:00
I don’t know if I’d claim Romney a leader just yet. We haven’t hit turn 2 yet and there is quite a way to go till the back stretch.