From my perspective, people don't like Romney because he's flip flopped on a variety of issues, as well as not appealing to the core of conservative principles that the right wants in their candidate. Despite all of that, he's still managed to always be among the top tier candidates. My guess why is that despite ...whats usually true... republicans aren't stupid. They know that of the current candidates Romney has had the most broad-based support, and is the candidate that can best appeal to the moderates and independents in the general election and thus has the best chance of actually taking the white house in november.
Romney looks presidential. As superficial as that is, it really matters. I think the right wants a Romney with those core conservative principles and non-flip-flophish-ness. Thats what Rick Perry was supposed to be. Too bad the man's an idiot. The one candidate that has always stood on his principles (which I certainly respect, although not the principles themselves) and does have that appeal to the conservative base is Ron Paul. Paul's had a track record of not being taken seriously by the world of politics despite his consistent support. I think this is because he doesn't have that broad based support to moderates and wouldn't win the general. Republicans not being stupid, he hasn't built up a huge amount of support.
So the right needs the looks and wide-spread appeal of Romney with the core principles and steadfastness of Paul. So instead of creating some monstrous two-headed siamese hybrid of them, why not declare Paul as a vice presidential candidate (assuming that it's allowed by the rules of the primary)? Independents voting the top of the ticket would have a moderate republican, while the right would have a dependable and principled candidate in the vice presidency. This would also essentially be an endorsement of Romney by Paul, which might help assuage any fears of a flip flopper in the white house.
Gingrich, the current front runner, is a house of cards. The only reason why he has any support is because he's the only remaining feasible not-Romney and the momentum he gained off of Cain's fall. If the Romney campaign were to make the major announcement of Paul as VP, it would totally swing momentum back to Romney. Any republicans out there can correct me if i'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure nobody's really thrilled with Gingrich as the nominee.
I'm not saying I'd vote for them, nor am I sure of how they'd do next year in the general, but I do think that they'd have a lock on the Republican nomination.
A big problem with the Romney/Paul deal is that Ron Paul wouldn't accept the VP position. The man knows he isn't going to be president- he seems to run to get his libertarian ideas out to the electorate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm not so convinced that it would be a smart move for the Romney campaign, either in the primaries or the general election. Like you said, one of Romney's appeals is that he can win the most general election support; choosing Paul might just give primary voters one less reason to vote for him. Nominating Paul would be shooting himself in the foot for the general election- I can just imagine the ads running against the ticket quoting Paul's "abolish the Fed/dept of education/all regulatory bodies."
I think i would be fun to elect Ron Paul president because it would be interesting to have a conservative president once. I mean we have tried everything else so why not zoidberg? i mean no, why not a conservative?
ReplyDeleteIm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but if not we did just have a guy named George Bush.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, maybe the accepting a potential vice presidency (staying in the campaign longer) would go a long way towards him getting out his libertarian ideas. Especially since i think he resigned his house office to focus on the campaign. And your right in that Paul might drive away moderate voters from Romney, but at the rate this primary's going, Romney's not looking like he's going to make it to the general anyway. He's gotta do something to shake things up.
I believe Romney is confident in the idea that, while Republican primary voters may be having their fun now with other candidates, they will inevitably plump for the most electable man. That's what they historically always end up doing. That's probably a smart bet too, though the Gingrich surge makes me question it a little- it's so close to the first primaries and he's still ahead. My prediction though: Gingrich fizzles out as the primaries near.
ReplyDeleteId agree with you in saying that Gingrich will probably lose momentum as they get closer to the convention, but I have no idea of the degree to which he will. Which, of course, is key to deciding whether Romney or somebody else will be the nominee.
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