When last week's Super Tuesday primaries were finished Republican presidential candidate frontrunner Mitt Romney seemed at least to further distance himself from his challengers.
With wins in five of nine primaries or caucuses Romney had increased his delegate count to 464 of the needed 1,144 to gain his party's nomination.
But while Romney held a double-the-delegate lead over his nearest challenger, former Sen. Rick Santorum, along with a 4-to-1 edge over Newt Gingrich and was 10-fold up on Congressman Ron Paul, none of the challengers appeared remotely ready to end the chase anytime soon.
This might be because of a sense among their specific followers that while voters appear to be speaking quite loudly, polls indicate there's still doubt.
A recent CBS News poll showed that while 70 percent of Republicans think Romney will eventually emerge as the person to face President Barack Obama in November, only 30 percent would vote for the former Massachusetts' governor, businessman and Olympics organizer.
In a People and the Press Washington Post poll conducted prior to Super Tuesday, the Pew Research Center also casts some kind of doubt on the pool of Republicans vying for the nomination. Just 26 percent of 1,009 Republicans surveyed said their impression of the candidates have improved the more they got to know them.
All of which makes one wonder how things will shake out in the lead up to the party's convention the last week of August in Tampa, Fla.
What happens in the unlikely occurrence if two candidates – for argument sake the two tail-end-Charlies Paul and Gingrich – are out of the mix. Who gets those votes?
It's not even worth the time to consider such a move because each candidate has a sizeable base of some voters with one persuasion or another that seem staunchly behind their man.
Santorum and Gingrich are focusing on appealing to the true conservative base while Paul has a group of very fervent followers.
Romney continues to fish the lake for the more moderate of the species. Historically that's where his strengths have rested as governor of Massachusetts where he might have been termed a ‘Republicrat' for the general middle-of-the road path he took in leading a very liberal state.
With no change in the present course, there's wide speculation that the nominee could come out of what is called a “brokered convention.” This happens when there are not enough delegates won during the primary and caucuses for a single candidate to have a pre-existing majority. The nomination is then decided through re-votes that have plenty of political horse-trading attached.
One has to turn back the clock to 1952 when Democrat Adlai Stevenson emerged from a brokered convention as a candidate. While none have happened since, more recent elections in 1988, 1984, 1980, 1976 and 1968 had the threat but various circumstances intervened to prevent it.
So how about this?
It has been suggested in order to truly differentiate and separate the candidates that maybe strengths outside politics come into play. Musical talent for instance; Richard Nixon was an OK piano player and Bill Clinton did a blues number with his saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show. Both won their respective nominations and election.
With all the seriousness, the personal attacks and everyone clinging to their ideology, the Republican candidates might do well to put themselves on a more personal level with the public.
Maybe in the end it's the intangibles that make a difference, someone emerging as a standup comedian, perhaps. Oh wait… never mind that one.
Reader Comments(0)