In case you didn’t bother to watch the MI primary returns, Mittens McRomnibus won big over John McCain last night. Of course, the fact that his dad was the governor of Michigan had nothing to do with that.
What does this mean for us RI spectators?

On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized Democratic Party.

Even in victory, Mr. Romney stood as evidence of the trouble the party finds itself in. He won, but only after a major effort in a state he once expected to win in a walk. That was before he lost Iowa and New Hampshire, two other states where he had campaigned all out.

Oh, also, the MI GOP sent out a press release congratulating John McCain on his MI victory, only to backpedal when that turned out to be wrong.

So, with the GOP race still “fluid,” whats next? The Repubs aren’t competing much in Nevada, it seems, so South carolina and Florida will be their next big contests. Romney’s fresh mojo is good news for democrats, who consistently trounce Romney in head to head matchups, and for whom Romnoid is easily the most beatable candidate. I suppose it’s also good news for Romnoid’s campaign.

McCain, and presumably Huckabee, will live to fight another day, and RuGiu, who came in sixth, seems dead in the water, his Florida and California numbers now in the toilet along with his awful campaign. But who knows? If Rudy actually wins Florida, I think the GOP nomination will happen in a brokered convention. Meanwhile, Thompson is poised to drop out ( according to the Romney campaign), and Ron Paul keeps looking better and better as a dark horse VP pick.

The bottom line: the glut of February 5th states, combined with the GOP’s winner-take-all primaries, means anything could happen: four candidates could split the Feb 5th states, or one candidate could have enough momentum to win a 30% plurality across the board, and essentially win the nomination with 1/3 of their party’s support. Dems should pray that Mitt is somehow that candidate, a scenario that now seems a bit more plausible.

Also, the democrats had a MI primary, too, though none of the delegates will be seated and Obama and Edwards took their names off the ballot. The final tally for the dems: HRC wins 55%, Kucinich gets 4%, and uncommitted pulls in 40%. On to Nevada!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am and is filed under Daily Dose. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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