I don't know how many of you watched the debate. It sucked by the way. MSNBC's Russert and Matthews thought Romney easily won. Andrea Mitchell thought McCain won (no surprise). I think if Romney wins Florida, he's the frontrunner. Too many conservatives hate McCain, and will coalesce around Mitt.
At this point, I think unless something unexpected happens it's Romney-Clinton. I believe Michigan was the turning point. Particularly McCain saying jobs aren't coming back. Romney calling him on it. Won Romney the debate. The Romney haters will have to keep dealing his slickness.
I think that Romney would be a far better matchup for Clinton. Hillary's biggest weakness is instantly erased.
It'd be fireworks. Slick Willie and the Clinton machine would compete with Mitt. I think it would be one of the best campaigns in the last 20 years. Both teams are A-level campaigners.
Mitt has tremendous organizational skills (which is a point in his favor), but isn't particularly entertaining to watch. Neither his Hillary, but with her you get the "& Friends." Obama vs. McCain would be vastly more interesting.
Obama v. McCain is a dream match-up, keeping Bloomberg out of the race and insuring that it's a fractured, Bob Dole-like Republican presidential nominee -- McCain -- against Obama's rising star power. That's only if Obama can get past Hillary.
Romney clearly won the Republican debate last evening in Florida; even the libs at MSNBC were saying he aced his questions with clear answers and scored high among all who viewed debate and audience... Mitt heads into Florida with high ratings! Those in Florida may be viewing Mitt Romney for the first time via the debate and their perception of him would be mostly favorable... this is a bad thing for Huckabee and Guilliani who now have to fight over a third place finish since we know McCain will likely pull a weak second place in Florida....
Romney is a better matchup for Clinton because he doesn't appeal to independents the way McCain does.
There would be one awesome thing about that matchup. We'd get to watch Chris Matthews' mind slowly disintegrate over the course of the campaign. By the end, he'd be completely batshit insane. His normal amount of spittle would become the Nile River of spittle. The media, in general, would spend months being tortured by covering two candidates they HATE HATE HATE, and not really being able to throw the election against someone they hate, because they also hate the opponent.
It's easy to have tremendous organizational skills when you outspend your rivals 2-to-1. That advantage disappears in the general election.
It's only going to get worse - far, far worse. The Republican donors have stopped giving money until they can find a front runner, which means the broke McCain, the broke Huckabee, and the I-spent-all-my-massive-wad-showing-everyone-what-a-putz-I-am Giuliani have serious handicaps. I don't see how anyone except Romney can win the nomination now.
That's assuming McCain can carry the conservative base with him. It's hard for me to imagine a lot of base conservatives going out and voting for McCain. Rush Limbaugh has virtually said if McCain's the nominee, he's not voting. I'm an independent, and McCain's the nominee, I'm voting for Obama OR Clinton. It's automatic. If Romney gets the nomination, he will carry the conservative base, unlike McCain.
But it's not hard for me to imagine a lot of base conservatives going out, holding their nose, and voting AGAINST Hillary.
Partly. I was just reading up on Limbaugh's site and he says this: If a couple people, one of the two people (McCain or Huckabee) win this party's nomination, we're going to lose in a landslide that would make Goldwater look like a victory.......I'm here to tell you if either of these two guys gets the nomination, it's going to destroy the Republican Party, it's going to change it forever, be the end of it. A lot of people aren't going to vote. You watch......if Huckabee or McCain get the nominations, it's the end of the party. It's the end of the party as we know it. The Republican Party is not going to go away, but I will guarantee you that if either of these guys get the nomination, it's going to be a landslide defeat and it's going to be the Clintons pulling it off, because Obama is not going to get the nomination. You can dream, but he's not going to get the nomination. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_012508/content/01125111.guest.html
Why are we quoting Rush Limbaugh in any sort of serious context? Isn't that a TOS violation or something?
You don't think this is more designed to scare people into voting for Romney in the primaries, by saying he's the only one who can win?