Romney, Running Uphill

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Winning California would help pave the way. That explains Romney's last-minute decision to fly there and back yesterday so he could attend a half-hour rally in the state and address local media at an airport press conference. (Romney slept on the floor, underneath the tray tables, during the red-eye flight back to the East Coast.) At the rally Romney was introduced by conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt and California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. They focused on Romney's conservative credentials and laced into McCain for being a liberal. Minutes later Romney told reporters, "California is huge. There's something happening here in California that's big. The people in California are really concentrating on this race with renewed attention, and they're saying we want to have a conservative leader of our party." Romney credited the support he's receiving from conservative pundits, including Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, for helping fuel his resurgence in the state.

His new emphasis on the sanctity of marriage and his pro-life and anti-immigrant credentials haven't hurt either. As he fights for his political life, Romney is having to shift back to the candidate he was in Iowa, when he tried (and failed) to stave off Huckabee's ascent by talking less about the economy and more about social issues. Now Romney is trying that tactic again, cracking jokes in West Virginia today about the Framers rolling in their graves at same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. Funny? Marginally. But, hey, he didn't mention anything about wanting to be in New Orleans.

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Posted By: Twister52 @ 02/07/2008 1:06:09 AM

"HolyRoller", Super Tuesday: your man Huckabee - 5 states (6 total) and 190 delegates. Romney - 7 states (12 total) and 296 delegates. Huckabee's have all been "regional" in the South (the furthest away from the Southeast was Iowa which still isn't terribly far away) while Romney's wins have literally stretched coast to coast.....Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Alaska, etc. Not only that but Romney, on Super Tuesday, won the "popular vote", i.e., simply more people pulled the lever for Romney than McCain OR Huckabee..... Mitt won 36.4% of the votes to McCain's 32.2% and Huckabee's 20.9%. And MITT should quit?!?!.....
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Posted By: Twister52 @ 02/07/2008 1:04:37 AM

"HolyRoller", Super Tuesday: your man Huckabee - 5 states (6 total) and 190 delegates. Romney - 7 states (12 total) and 296 delegates. Huckabee's have all been "regional" in the South (the furthest away from the Southeast was Iowa which still isn't terribly far away) while Romney's wins have literally stretched coast to coast.....Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Alaska, etc. Not only that but Romney, on Super Tuesday, won the "popular vote", i.e., simply more people pulled the lever for Romney than McCain OR Huckabee..... Mitt won 36.4% of the votes to McCain's 32.2% and Huckabee's 20.9%. More to come.....
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Posted By: Peaceful Warrior @ 02/06/2008 2:16:43 PM

Has anyone looked at the states that John McCain won versus the states that both MIke Huckabee and Mitt Romney won? Remember the last 3 or 4 elections? North east, and South West (California) have consistently been blue states. The south, midwest, and west have been red. Typically, the blue states are won by the democrats and the red typically goes to the repubicans. Barack Obama claimed the typical "red" states, while Hillary took the "blue" states. So, with a candidate that can't mobilize the part of the country that has alligned itself with the Republican party, how can he be smiling today??? He may get the nod as the candidate, but, whether it is a Hillary, Obama ticket or an Obama + ????, McCain just can't beat those combinations. So why does the Republican party continue to shoot itself in the foot by continually nominating old war heroes rather than younger, more vibrant candidates with some new, exciting approaches to solving the problems of today's world.