A Vote For Romney Is…
If you’re scoring at home, it’s 0-4. That would be Mitt Romney’s record in contested states where his father was not a 3-term governor. By any measure, that can’t inspire a lot of confidence at Camp Willard. The guess here is when the filing deadline arrives Thursday (and not a minute before), the former governor of Massachusetts will admit to plugging more than $30,000,000 of his own money into this race. Keep in mind, that number will be reflective through 2007 only. He undoubtedly frittered away much more of his hard-earned fortune once the votes started coming in. While Romney is gloriously wealthy, he’s not Ross Perot-crazy-throw a few thousand dollars on the fire because it’s getting chilly in here-wealthy. At this point, the aspirant has probably waved goodbye to 15% of his net worth. I’m starting to get the feeling I get watching Deal or No Deal when some poor sap turns down 100 grand from the banker because they “just know” they have the winning case. Predictably, they go bust and walk away with a couple hundred bucks and the home version of the game.
Now for the really bad news. He can’t win. Despite outspending opponents at every turn by rates of ten and twenty to one; when Mitt Romney presents himself as a candidate to the republican electorate; they listen, take measure and find him wanting. The rural mid-westerners, the northeastern neighbors, the good folks of Dixie, and the melting pot that makes up the Sunshine state, all took a long look and said, “No thanks.” The “path to victory” you always hear campaigns trumpet, simply doesn’t exist. And all the chirping the Clear Channel cheerleaders can muster won’t create one.
Since 1968 the track to republican victory has been found south of the Mason-Dixon line. For Romney, this almost derails his campaign before it gets out of the station. In South Carolina Mitt spent money like a drunken sailor and got doubled up by TWO competitors. The Bible Belt won’t buy what Romney’s selling no matter who’s vouching for him. His record flies in the face of the values those voters hold dear. Romney had troubling stances as a Massachusetts politician with regard to abortion, gun control, government mandated health care and stem-cell research. But wait, there’s more! Now we know, long before a disembodied voice was whispering sweet nothings in his ear at opportune times, Mitt was writing love letters to the Log Cabin Republicans. In a 1994 correspondence in which he vowed to do more for their cause than Ted Kennedy had, he wrote the following in reference to Bill Clinton’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell military policy:
“I believe that the Clinton compromise was a step in the right direction. I am also convinced that it is the first in a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nations military.”
That plays well in Soho and Hollywood but I wouldn’t recommend the governor includes that in his stump speech in Georgia. To be sure, the South is in play, just not for Mitt. Mike Huckabee looks very solid in several of the southern Super Tuesday states and his chief rival appears to be John McCain. So where can Romney win?
Romney’s past centrist (to be kind) positions should help him in the northeast and west coast. Unfortunately, those areas are in McCain’s wheelhouse. The Manhattan elites and the left coast libs simply adore Mac. (As much as they can adore someone with an R next to their name) While that won’t buy him a cup of coffee in November, (no matter what he says) it will garner him the lion’s share of the delegates that come from those regions. So, again, where can Romney win?
He has already shown us. Mitt Romney, the picture-perfect, well-heeled, establishment candidate with countless hours of free advertising emanating from radios every day; can pick off a couple of rustbelt states with terrible economies and a few more in the mountain west where high Mormon populations will push him over the top. (Yes Virginia, there is a candidate counting on identity politics.) That showing won’t get him a good seat on the floor in St. Paul, much less the nomination. So, John McCain is a good choice, right?
Wrong. The senator from Arizona has made a cottage industry out of thumbing his nose at conservative principles. You don’t get cameos in big budget movies because you unwaveringly toe the conservative line. Remember Jesse Helms in Lethal Weapon 2? Neither do I. Senator McCain, for all his faults, is a leader. It’s his name on the campaign finance disaster that curtails free speech and gave rise to such beauties as moveon.org and America Coming Together. It’s his name on the amnesty bill that might as well read, “Come here illegally, stay out of trouble, enjoy the good life and just don’t tell everyone back home the deal we’ve got. OK?” It’s his name on the 2004 anti-Gun Show bill that sought to close off private sales and further the registration of guns and gun owners. Yes, Senator McCain is a leader. Unfortunately, he leads in the wrong direction too often.
McCain has a history of attacking evangelicals and their values. In 2000 he infamously referred to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance”. Here’s what he had to say about abortion in 1999, “In the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force “X” number of women in America to undergo illegal and dangerous operations.” You can infer he has no problem with “X” number of unborn babies being slaughtered every year. That doesn’t sound like the candidate real conservatives should coalesce around. Don’t fret. There is hope.
Give Hope a (second) chance. Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas, is the only man that can defeat Senator McCain and capture the nomination for conservatism. He served more than 10 years as his state’s Top Dog (or should that be razorback?) and improved the states infrastructure, raised the national education rank from 49th to 8th , passed the first broad-based tax cut in the state’s history and turned an inherited $200,000,000 deficit into an $800,000,000 surplus. He took on the Clinton political machine four times and beat them soundly, despite having the deck heavily stacked against him. Governor Huckabee is the only candidate in the race who has consistently stood for life, traditional marriage, and the second amendment. Closing the IRS is at the heart of the governor’s economic policy. His border security plan has received rave reviews from the founder of The Minutemen and U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter. It’s true he hails from the same hometown as Bill Clinton. (To be fair, Clinton moved to Hot Springs when he was young, but “The man from Hot Springs” didn’t sound right in a campaign commercial. Although, it certainly would have been a more apropos foreshadow of things to come.) This man from Hope is offering just that to voters all across the country.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll hear the main stream media pushing the Senator from the southwest as the new “inevitable” candidate. This, of course, is hilarious since, as of this writing, seven of the fifty states that make up this union have voted. The rest of us still have work to do. My only caution is, use your vote wisely. Because, a fair reading of the facts shows; despite all his money; despite his thousands of ads; despite the incessant exhorting, distorting and record-contorting by those on talk radio. A vote for Romney is…a vote for McCain.
6 Comments
January 31, 2008 at 4:28 am
I found you through a search and I enjoyed the article. Another thing against Romney is his poor effort with the economy while governor: higher taxes and near-the-bottom job growth. I live in Utah and I will probably be voting for Huckabee. I was looking at the polls over at realclearpolitics and it looks like Huckabee still has a good chance. I predict he takes 2nd overall, I don’t know if he can win. I also think it is amazing that he had the self control to improve his personal health and lose a lot of weight.
January 31, 2008 at 4:54 am
Serket,
Yes, Huckabee is still in it. According to polls, these are the state with delegates in parentheses that the Governor is leading in on Super Tuesday:
GA (72), MO (58), TN (56), AL (48), OK (41), AR (34), WV (30)
That would give Huckabee a total of 513 delegates, then TX votes Mar 4 and I think they have over 100 delegates. There are other states that either do not have polling or the polling is too old. Our state votes Feb 9th and I think Huckabee will do well here and our delegate count is 47. I am not sure if we are a winner take all state though. I find it refreshing to see someone from Utah that is Mormon country voting for Huckabee. He is the most solid conservative candidate, and I hope others found from the debate tonight how Presidential Mike is. When given the opportunity to speak to the people he knocks their socks off. Romney is too rehearsed, and wears an ear piece that can’t be seen during debates and is fed information as to what to say. It was caught in the last debate two different times. Huckabee is the most like Reagan, and can restore honor, dignity, and restraint in the White House.
Huckabee can’t write a check for millions to finance his campaign like Romney and McCain has the big money endorsements. With the campaign reform bill McCain founded keeps any one person from donating over $2,300 per month to a campaign. So, Huckabee is getting money from his grassroots supporters with little amounts as small as “A Buck for Huck”, every little bit counts! These are the Main Street Americans that Huckabee is speaking for, we are not the elites in this nation. Romney can’t identify with middle class or poor America since he has so much wealth. Not to say that is bad, he can have his wealth, but for far too long Washington has been controlled by Washington elites with money. It is time for change, time for all of us to be united for one cause moving America up in the world again. Congress & Senate are doing too much partisan bickering, and it is like scoring a touchdown when each side puts in a law, they have forgotten they are representing the lives of Americans.
I hope you have others close to you that you can speak about Huckabee too so they can vote for him. It takes “We the People” to make our country work for us again. Thanks for your comment, and check back later for new posts.
January 31, 2008 at 10:37 am
Please…Huckabee’s living a pipe dream that’s about to end.
Since you’re keeping count, lets run the tally:
IA: Huckabee gets a 9 point win but only 5 more delegates than Romney
WY: Romney blow-out (no contest), all 9 delegates to Romney
NH: McCain wins by 5 points, but only 3 more delegates than Romney
MI: 9 point win for Romney, wins all but 6 of the delegates
NV: Blowout for Romney, 18 delegates won, remaining 11 spread amongst other (no more then 4 to anyone else)
SC: McCain gets most of the delegates (19) on a very close win over Huckabee
FL: McCain wins by 5 points (very close), and gets all the delegates per FL primary rules.
What that story tells is one name at the top (first or second) of every list but one: Romney. His losses are close (except SC), his wins are big. Considering the close battle in Florida, where he was down by some 10+ points just a week before the primary, I think this spells much worse news for McCain (and Huck). Romney’s on the rise, while McCain is getting a seriously healthy dose of transparency…the more people look at him, the less they like him, just like with Huckabee.
After tonight’s debate in California, just watch Romney turn this supposed momentum of McCain’s into win after win.
It will be fun to watch.
February 1, 2008 at 12:17 am
RE-AL,
The debate put both Romney and McCain to shame. All of the juvenile bickering they were doing looked less than Presidential to say the least. Mitt Romney is wanting Huckabee to drop out since he knows he can’t win as long as Huckabee is in the race. Romney is a flip flopper on the issues that Conservatives hold important, and Huckabee supporters will not vote for Romney! Mitt cannot relate to Main Street Americans, put into law gay marriage in MA along with Socialized type healthcare that fines the MA citizens if they do not have healthcare. This to me is the same as Socialized medicine as Hillary Clinton proposes. Romney says one thing to a crowd he is speaking with and walks out and says another to whomever else, his rhetoric is set to accomodate whoever he is talking to. We cannot trust a person like this in the office of President. If Mitt gets the nomination, the Democrats will tear him apart in the general election process. He can’t beat Clinton or Obama. He has put negativity in this campaign as the same old Washington style politics. Mike Huckabee has not put anything negative on the air, and has been civil and has run his campaign while being frugal with his campaign contribtutions. I know, Romney, with his millions can spend like a drunken sailor all he wants. Not many candidates have the ability to stroke a check for millions of dollars to finance their campaign. So, Romney can give up thinking Huckabee supporters will support him, we will never compromise ourselves to conform to him.
February 1, 2008 at 5:02 am
Re-Al please………the point is ……Romney will never win this election. But at least he will get a lesson out of this……..money lose LOL……..Tell him he might as well give up and spend his money elsewhere, because it is not going to work on this job.
You know I have seen jobs come and I have seen jobs go…………….LOL the Barbie Man……
February 1, 2008 at 5:16 am
Apparently I’m being censored now. I posted a response (tried to) which never showed up and now when I try to re-post it, it says it’s a duplicate. So obviously my post is in there somewhere, just not being shown.
Nice.