Defining the Candidate

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Other aides say that Romney's financial advantages—while critical to his strategy—also created expectations that were difficult for a first-time candidate to live up to. Romney could buy the most high-profile strategists and a formidable field operation, leading to media hype. But at the same time, few voters had ever heard of him. "We were going against Rudy Giuliani who is internationally known, John McCain with 100 percent name ID, and Fred Thompson … who is famous," one top adviser said. "That was our most important challenge—it was an upstart campaign viewed by analysts and the media as a top-tier campaign with money, good people and a good candidate. Expectations were high. He had everything you needed, but the hardest thing to create is name recognition and awareness."

Many agree that Romney did everything he could control well—hire the best people, start early, organize efficiently—even as he was brought down by a string of bad luck. "If Fred [Thompson] hadn't pulled out of Iowa," adviser Ron Kaufman said, "it would have split up the vote Huckabee got and we would have won. If Rudy [Giuliani] hadn't decided to abandon the state we would have won New Hampshire. In Florida, if Rudy hadn't collapsed in the last four or five days and Mel [Martinez, a popular senator] hadn't endorsed McCain, we would have won." Unfortunately for Romney, those are all big ifs.

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Posted By: Winghunter @ 04/11/2008 11:54:07 AM

Apparently, runnning as a CEO wouldn't have gotten him very far either;

"If Bain Capital was going to invest in the auto industry, what segment would it invest in, and how would that help Michigan?" Salon's Mike Madden actually got that in, but it elicited a non-answer: "I've been out of the private sector too long to advise people on that kind of thing." In other words, his experience in the private sector is relevant, until he's called upon to use it."
One Lie Too Many
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/01/one_lie_too_many.html
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Posted By: Nins @ 03/13/2008 11:02:00 PM

Dear Illinois Voter, I'm sorry, but you have been mis-informed about the vote you are referring to. At issue was a bill to mandate care to "pre-viable fetuses born alive." The first thing to note is "pre-viable." Fetuses below 26 weeks of age never survive, even with the best ICU care. Fetuses older than 26 weeks already have a law that mandates they be given medical care to save their lives. The bill you are referring to was promoted by the pro-Life camp and it was really quite clever. Had that bill passed it would have overturned Roe v. Wade, but only in the State of Illinois. It would have immediately been legally challenged by the pro-Choice groups and immediately struck down, since the Supreme Court has already ruled on that issue. Even though I am pro-Life, I could see how this bill was just a political ploy. It was designed to be used to smear the reputations of any politician who voted against it. It was not designed to protect the unborn, because the people who wrote it knew that the pre-viable fetuses in question would all die anyway.

This kind of thing is one of the reasons why Republicans like me are becoming disenfranchised from the GOP. Politics is not just some clever shell game that insiders play while we the taxpayers foot the bill for their power plays. We want our real issues heard and legislated for in effective ways.

Believe it or not, as a pro-Choice Christian I think I have gotten better legislature out of Barack Obama than out of my own interest group. Obama has taken the time to listen to the religious voice and made some modest compromises with us, like voting against late term abortion and against partial birth abortion, even though he still has supported a woman's right to reproductive freedom by voting in favor of early abortions. To me, this is a good compromise. I know he's liberal at heart, but he listens to the other side, and that is important to me. It's a brave new world for conservative Republicans when we look to liberal Democrats to help us with our issues. But I'm a pragmatist. I go with what works.
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Posted By: jdoll123 @ 02/18/2008 12:58:54 AM

Mitt Romney failed in his run for the GOP nomination for the Presidency of the United States of America because he ran as a clone of George W Bush, the most hated man in America. On top of that consider, just what did Romney stand for? That all depends on who he was talking to at the time. America has had 7 years of a liar in the White House, Mitt demonstrated with his "flip-flopping" htat he stood for another 4.
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