Romney has no base
By A.B. Stoddard - 02/08/12 06:09 PM ET
There was nothing inevitable about Mitt Romney on Tuesday night. And
should he lose any other significant primary contests in the weeks to
come, he won't be the most electable, either. Indeed, Romney's
humiliating defeats in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado this week have
blown a potentially fatal hole in the argument that the
least-conservative candidate would be embraced by the GOP's
conservative base because they simply have no choice.
What Rick Santorum's upset victories proved this week has been true
all along — that the former Massachusetts governor has no base of
loyal supporters in the party, and that the most conservative voters
are desperate for another choice. It was true when the party flirted
with Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman
Cain and Newt Gingrich. It is still true now. Though as the nominating
contests began, Romney's impressive organization and considerable
resources began to pay dividends, he has failed to excite
conservatives even where he wins. While turnout increased slightly in
New Hampshire, it decreased in Nevada and Florida from totals in 2008.
Such weaknesses are hardly building blocks of a nomination, and are
liabilities Romney must mitigate to win the nomination and then win in
the fall. Without adequate conservative support and energy behind his
candidacy, Romney would lose to President Obama — just ask John
McCain. The most active and enthusiastic conservatives, who will be
critical to voter turnout in the general election, rejected Romney's
inevitability this week and sent the message Santorum declared as he
started his victory speech, that "conservatism is alive and well."
Romney's campaign writes off the non-binding caucuses and primaries
Santorum won and notes that the delegate count, with Romney ahead 3 to
1, remains unchanged. Missouri's primary was a straw poll, or "beauty
contest," and along with Minnesota and Colorado is a non-binding
contest that doesn't award delegates the states will choose at a later
date. True. But Romney was supposed to win in Colorado, where he beat
McCain 60 percent to 18 percent in 2008. And he lost to Santorum, 55
percent to 25 percent in Missouri. Having nearly 138,000 voters turn
out for Santorum in the bellwether state of Missouri for a primary
that didn't matter clearly matters. After all, the entire vote total
in Nevada was only 33,000. Santorum has now won more states than
Romney — and, with the exception of Florida, the critical battleground
states the party needs to win in November.
A Romney campaign official asserted Wednesday that only Romney has the
"organization, resources and stamina" to win the nomination. Santorum
isn't disputing that: His pitch to conservatives is that a compromised
nominee will be defeated. Neither Gingrich nor Romney can lead the GOP
to victory this fall with the support they have expressed for TARP,
cap-and-trade proposals and mandates for healthcare insurance,
Santorum maintains.
But it isn't just the mandate that makes Romney "unqualified" to
debate Obama on healthcare, Santorum said this week. Even on the most
potent new issue the GOP has against the Obama healthcare plan — the
administration's new regulations requiring religious institutions to
provide birth control in their healthcare coverage — Romney is
vulnerable. Though he decried this "violation of conscience," it was
the same "abortion pills" Romney now condemns that he supported as
governor of Massachusetts, when he stated his belief that all rape
victims should have access to such "emergency contraception."
Romney should ready his money and organization for the coming
contests, because he won't be electable if he doesn't get elected. And
conservatives will try mightily to challenge whether inevitability is
inevitable after all.
More:
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/ab-stoddard/209561-romney-has-no-base
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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