4.12.2011

hope for the gop, ct'd

I am ever-so-slightly heartened by the fact that Mitt Romney's announcement that he has officially started thinking about officially becoming a presidential candidate (or whatever the hell that is) was all about job creation and economic policy. Or rather, that it was not about waging perpetual war, restoring "American" values, President Obama's birth certificate, fearing Muslims, hating gays, or fetishizing fetuses.

I remain skeptical of his ability to win the GOP nomination, though that skepticism is somewhat tempered by the fact that the Republicans are frontloading with proportional primaries next year. In other words, finishing a strong 2nd or 3rd in early primaries will keep a candidacy alive much longer than it would have in previous years, where early winner-take-all primaries tended to lock up the nomination soon.

I'm a long way from being excited about Romney (and even longer from actually voting for him) but compared to the rest of the GOP field at the moment...well it could be a hell of a lot worse.

2 comments:

Dave said...

If Romney doesn't win the New Hampshire GOP primary, and he didn't win it in 2008, then I'm not sure he will be able to raise sufficient money to continue. Certainly a poor performance in NH followed by the almost certain poor showing in South Carolina will significantly and negatively impact his ability to raise money or maintain the media narrative of his being a serious contender.

Brian said...

Well, I wouldn't presume to handicap the primaries this far out. It's a long year.

I just like to dream of a day when the southern strategy is finally abandoned.