It is still way too early to crown Republican Mitt Romney as the party favorite to challenge Barack Obama for the 2012 Presidential nomination; as some of the political pundits are doing, while this long and grueling race is just getting started. Yes, Mitt Romney is doing better this time around than he did in 2008, but a brief historical recap from 2008 is in order. Romney lost the Iowa Caucus in Iowa with 25% of the vote and came in second to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Again, he placed second to John McCain in the New Hampshire Primary but came in fourth in the South Carolina Primary with only 15% of the vote. Also, Romney came in second to John McCain in the Florida Primary. Romney did however; win the Wyoming, Nevada and Maine caucuses, and in The Super Tuesday contest: won the Alaska, Michigan, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah caucuses and primaries; but John McCain won Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma. After the outcome on The Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses which were held on February 7, 2008, Romney suspended his campaign and decided, according to him, “to step aside for the good of the party and for the country.”
Romney is untested in a marathon political contest and it is uncertain what a protracted and bitter campaign filled with negative ads will have upon him because he just might want to quit again before reaching the finish line, and this time around it will cost a lot more than twenty million dollars of his nearly quarter billion dollar net worth to get his message out to prospective voters. Another problem that Romney faces is whether or not he can convince those true believers in “The Bible Belt” or red meat states (Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, New Mexico and The Carolina’s) that he is a “true” born-again political Conservative instead of just masquerading as one. Aside from not being able to shake off the dogged question of ‘authenticity’ is Romney being able to relate to the average person struggling to keep a job when he is a son of privilege whose father was the CEO of General Motors. No, Mitt Romney doesn’t have anything in common with Joe Six-pack but rather with the aspirations of someone like Gordon Gekko [the movie “WALL STREET”].
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
January 12, 2012
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
