I predicted this back on December 16:
“Romney’s frontrunner status is a mirage in a GOP desert. Although his level of support remains steady,three-quarters of Republican voters oppose him. Romney is the least flawed candidate in an incredible field of jokers.
Rick Santorum and Ron Paul continue to stand out as true believers in the conservative and libertarian Gospels, respectively. I expect both to surprise Iowa and the nation. Santorum may then be positioned to pull off an upset in South Carolina.”
Tonight, 3 out of 4 Iowa Republicans rejected Mitt Romney, his money, his Super PAC, and his platform. Like Lucy, he’s “got some ‘splaining to do.”
Tonight is neither an omen nor a strong showing; it’s a revelation. Romney is not the “chosen one,” much less the inevitable nominee.
His standing in the national polls may erode along with his self-confidence. And his easygoing facade will give way to his strong will to do and to say anything to win.
As I wrote last month,the Anybody But Mitt primary was won by Santorum but this nomination fight will continue into Tampa in August.
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Michael Benjamin
Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless
Interesting perspective, but I’m not sure I follow.
That Romney won Iowa at all is incredible. This is the state that Mike Huckabee won in 2008 (beating Romney by 9%). Unless someone finds a dead body under Romney’s house in the next few weeks, he’s a shoo-in to win New Hampshire as well. No candidate of either party who has won both Iowa and New Hampshire has failed to win their party’s nomination.
Romney’s path to victory will be bumpy, and he’ll have to do even more kiss up to his party’s various right wings, but the powers that be aren’t going to let Rick Santorum or Ron Paul win this thing.
Like many observers, you still think Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. Maybe, but it’s curious that no one can really explain how, when or why 75 percent of Republicans who are saying in polls and in Iowa that Mitt Romney’s not their candidate will suddenly come around.
Claiming that the “powers that be” will stop Santorum and Paul seems to concede that anti-democratic, corporate forces can influence the outcome of the RNC presidential nominating process. I favor the sometimes raucous, loud, seemingly chaotic, and oft-times rude democratic process that makes the USA an exceptional nation.
BTW, they just found a dead body under Queen Elizabeth’s house but she remains the reigning British monarch. Romney’s problem is that the dead body in your allusion is Romney himself. Last night, his campaign removed the teleprompter so he could deliver a heart-felt speech. Instead, Romney gives his tired anti-Obama stump speech. Not only does he have no core, he has no heart. He may well be the first cyborg to win a major party’s presidential nomination.
I’m not defending Romney, nor am I defending the GOP’s nomination process. I’m saying that historically the party doesn’t allow fringe candidates to win the nomination– and both Santorum and Paul are fringe candidates, even within the Republican party. 74% of Republicans in the ’96 Iowa Caucuses voted “against” Bob Dole, yet he still got the nomination, despite many social and fiscal conservatives in the party being against him.
If you don’t predict Romney will be the nominee, who do you think is more likely to win?
As far as Romney’s speech is concerned, the .3% of New Hampshire and South Carolina voters who saw it probably enjoy hearing an anti-Obama stump speech, even when given by an unimpassioned robot.