It was that way last time, why would it change?
Also re: turnout, haven’t the non-“beauty contest” primaries/caucuses also had reduced numbers vs. 2008? This tells me that this supposed surge in anti-Obama feeling is mostly in the minds of GOP true believers.
Yeah, from what I’ve read the turnout is down. For whatever reason, there’s less interest in this election than there was in 2008.
Yeah, there’s no way that happens. And that’s not a slam on Paul - the mechanics of the caucus don’t lend themselves towards winning in that way, unless you’re the clear nominee at the time of the state caucus, and Paul won’t be.
One thought is that a prolonged primary fight could help Romney (or the eventual nominee) in the same way that the prolonged primary fight with Hillary made Obama set up operations early on in every state. That laid the foundation for a 50-state assault in the general election. Generally, if the candidate has a pretty clear path to the nomination, they can slack off a bit before the general, and they don’t bother that much with Republican-safe states.
Then again, I believe the turnout for the Democratic primary in 2008 was very high in every state along the way, the opposite of what we’re seeing with the GOP primary this year.
Perhaps all the rules/laws the GOP is putting in place in some states to disenfranchi… er, I mean Fight Voter Fraud™ are working a bit too well.
Has anyone seen the episode of south park where they have an election for the new school mascot and it ends up being Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich?
Yeah, that is the republican primaries, but without the threat of violence/exile if republicans don’t vote.
ShivaX
2008
Problem for the Republicans is they aren’t fighting in 50 states. Its more like they’re each picking and choosing a few states to “fight” in. I mean pick a state and odds are at least one or more candidates didn’t even bother. Obama, as far as I recall, pretty much fought in every state with Clinton. The Republicans this time around seem happy to give away states and go after ones they think they can already get.
I imagine in the Romney camp they know Romney will do better against Obama than the rest of the candidates so it’s hard for them to understand why he’s not being embraced by the party.
Really, Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul are joke candidates. How can you take them seriously? Yet they’re winning primaries, so they’re not a joke. Instead, the entire conservative voting bloc is a joke, apparently.
I still don’t think that it’s the primary fight that will hurt Romney, however, the protracted nature of the decision is symptomatic of the real issue that will hurt him which is that the more people on both sides of the aisle get to know him, the less they like him.
Alstein
2011
Those laws tend to disenfranchise Democrats not Republicans.
I think it will hurt him a bit. Every week he has to spend money to air ads against the others is a week and money he can’t use to attack Obama. And likewise, the other candidates are spending money to take him down.
They’re attacking each other. That’s not good. It will undercut enthusiasm. If you’re a Santorum supporter and Romney starts airing negative ads against your guy, you’re just a little less likely to bother to vote in the general election because while you don’t like Obama but you don’t like the other guy too.
Oh, I know they’re designed to do that in the general elections, but they’re bound to catch some working-class Republicans in their net, unless they’re so blatantly written as to say “if voter’s registration is Republican, the previous restrictions don’t apply.”
Still, I do think that the issue with the GOP primary/caucus turnout this year is that they’re stuck with a bunch of dudes that have one strike against them or another.
At least some of the tar and feathers thrown on him by the other candidates will stick and has stuck. Although, to be fair to the other candidates, at least some of the tar belongs to romney himself due to REALLY stupid statements made (I dont care about the poor, corporations are people too, REALLY lackluster early debate performance where he let Newt sit him over his knee and spank him without protest).
It will be interesting to see how he tries to paint himself as being just another working man out for the working man when his own republican primary candidates have so effectively labeled him as Mitt “top 1%” Romney (ok, i dont recall any of them using that exact term which i find amusing, but the idea is the same).
I just think Obama is likely to nail him about paying so little in taxes. I can see it now…
[INDENT]
Obama: “Mitt, lets be honest here, you’re in the top 1%. That is nothing to be embarrassed about. In America we’re glad that people prosper, but we like to see them pay their fair share! You paid 15%, how much did your secretary pay? I’ll bet it is over 15%!”
Romney: “I may have only paid 15%, but i donated a great deal and it adds up to around 45% of my income.”
Obama: “Mitt, I respect the Mormon church. They’ve done a lot of great things for many people, Mormon or not, but the constitution doesn’t say to pay your taxes to them.”[/INDENT]
Now this leaves republicans with the best of two bad situations. Paying taxes to the government which they foolishly believe cannot do ANYTHING right no matter what or paying tithes to the mormon church which they feel is a cult. Obviously it wont make most vote for obama, but i’d imagine it will not help turnout.
I feel bad when I really hate people, because I’m taught not to hate people, and I sincerely believe it’s better not to hate people.
But I just hate Santorum so, so much. He hates me, too, but that’s not much of an excuse. He strikes me as the worst possible candidate – a smug theocrat, openly hostile to libertarianism, openly hostile to the idea that the government should stay out of people’s biznezz, openly contemptuous of one of the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, in favor of mega-government, with a long history of fat-cat spending, and frat-boy pugilistic on foreign policy.
RepoMan
2016
Agreed completely. Santorum is pretty much my nightmare candidate made flesh.
Fortunately, people are so fed up with all the GOP candidates now that no matter who Obama runs against, 20% of GOP voters are likely to vote for Obama anyway. YAY! I hope the karma river keeps flowing Obama’s way, because it sure is so far.
As creepy as he is, at this point Newt Gingrich talking about arresting judges who issue his opinions he doesn’t like is a lot more unsettling. That’s how police states get going.
Scuzz
2018
How far do you really think a president would get trying to do that though?
About as far as his moon settlement will get I would think.
What with this freak show on the GOP side, the only things that worry me right now wrt Obama’s re-election are 1) a Eurozone collapse, 2) a new war in the Middle-East provoked by an Israeli attack on Iran, and/or gas prices going over $4/gallon on average.
This is awesome, not just because it’s from WorldNetDaily of all places (what the hell were you doing there? Did you properly sanitize afterwards? Shudder!), but because of this:
And that’s out of a prepared statement. Awesome. Also:
Santorum spreading over Republican taint in protracted, bloody struggle! You heard it here first, folks.
