When you see a spade you call it a spade.

From a conservative’s point of view, Romney was a more attractive candidate than McCain (younger, more articulate, more conservative on some issues), but two issues probably held him back–his conversion to conservative positions was recent, and not believable to some voters, and some religious conservatives see Mormonism as a cult–a minority, to be sure, but enough to cost Romney the general election. The early FL primary, even though only half the delegates are counted, probably gave the GOP its most electable nominee.

As for the Democrats, the question remains–what if neither candidate gets to 2,025 delegates after the remaining primaries are over? Do they go to the convention with 367 delegates missing (210 from FL, 157 from MI) and try to twist the arms of super-delegates, or do they try to make some arrangement for FL and MI over the summer? Obviously, Hillary has a greater interest in “do-over” primaries than Obama, so if the DNC won’t pay for them, why not let Hillary’s campaign pay for them?

My bad.

Sorry you are dead wrong here and, despite your protestations, sound just like every other McCain apologist out there telling social conservatives to shut the f**k up and get behind Triceratops in the name of party unity.
highhopes on March 6, 2008 at 4:29 PM

I think anyone familiar with my posting history knows that I’m no McCain apologist. Face the facts- McCain (unfortunately) would’ve won whether or not states like FL were “winner take all” or not.

You are correct that Rudy’s campaign was active in pushing for states favorable to him to keep the winner take all option, but that’s politics- not a conspiracy of unnamed “elites”.

The reason that “winner take all” is an attractive option from the state perspective is that it makes winning that state far more important than in a state that distributes delegates proportionally. The reason cited by FL for moving early was so they’d have more influence as an early state, and going winner-take-all further increases their influence on the election.

Missouri, Tennesse, Montana, Arizona and Utah were winner-take-all as well. Which subset of social-con hating elites were responsible for that?

Enough with the silly conspiracy nonsense- there were countless debates, ads run and interviews conducted. I’m not happy that McCain is the nominee either, but blaming it on some nameless, faceless cabal of “elites” who “rigged” the election is absurd.

Hollowpoint on March 6, 2008 at 1:08 PM

Sorry you are dead wrong here and, despite your protestations, sound just like every other McCain apologist out there telling social conservatives to shut the f**k up and get behind Triceratops in the name of party unity.

The big ticket states, like Florida, were set up as winner-take-all so the liberal candidate could mop up delegates he wouldn’t otherwise get. John McCain did very poorly in every single contest with other legitimate candidates (I never put Huckabee in this category). Yet, by the RNC manipulations he got delegates in disproportion to the popular in key primary races. It was designed for Rudy but McCain is from the same anti-social conservative/ anti-evangelical branch so it works just as well.

It’s a lesson McCain’s people are going have to learn the hard way. He may get social conservatives to hold their nose and vote for the bitter bastard in November but he isn’t going to get them to mobilize get-out-the-vote drives and get the grass roots support was out there before the Rudy/McCain/Bloomberg/Allah brand of “Republican” told the rest of us to f**k off because we were no longer welcome in the party (just look at some of the vindictive posts on this supposedly conservative forum about how much [the posters] like sticking it to the social conservatives).

I just heard on the radio this morning that Soros is now the richest man in America, overtaking Bill Gates who slipped to third. I imagine Soros has enough lying around to take care of those elections, if he (and other liberals) were really concerned about disenfranchising millions of voters.

wardrobedoor on March 6, 2008 at 11:22 AM

1 – Buffet
2 – Slim
3 – Gates

Do any of these names sound like “Soros?” I’ll give you some room on “Carlos Slim.” But otherwise keep your malappropriated fake facts to yourself.

Educate yourself or wear a muzzle and mittens.

I’m out like Ryan Seacrest.
***
//hunger driven rant

Good point and it would make a good ad.

But that is just the point isn’t it? The Dems TRIED to get a do over with the Presidency and they damn near had it.

What’s to keep them from doing it again?

It has been said before – the Dems did this to themselves. The only difference now is that they aren’t screwing Republicans and the rest of America, they only screwed themselves.

This would be a perfect example to show the American people, hell the whole world, how the liberls have fallen. Something along the lines of how does this make us any better than some tin pan dictator ship – don’t get what we want, do over. And over and over until we get the desired result. And cast it all under the cloud of disenfranchisement.

And this may be a semantic argument, but is this really disenfranchisement? This wasn’t an election was it? These peoples right to vote wasn’t revoked. I guess one could make the argument it has been rendered less effective, but is that REALLY disenfranchisement? I think it’s a crap argument.

I can’t believe I’m actually writing this, but Dean is right on this one. Everyone knew the rules. EVERYONE. The governors need to shut the hell up. So do the state parties. They let it happen. They agreed to let it happen. And now someone is bringing in the lawyers again?

Ya know what? They need to replay the last minute of the Super Bowl so Brett Favre can end his career without throwing an interception as his last pass. This makes just as much sense and I could argue it would be more beneficial for the country than this garbage.

What is it about Florida and Democrats? DNC Politburo Chairman Howard YAAAAH Dean is working to get a re-vote arranged in Florida and possibly Michigan to allow the disaffected delegates to be seated at the Democrat convention. If they can be seated …..

Of course, the Dems losing in November means we still get stuck with a Democrat John McCain

Very tongue in cheek, and hilarious.

The Dems did this to themselves. If the RNC was smart(!), they would cut an ad that says ” If the Democrats can’t run a primary, what makes you think they are ready to govern properly. You don’t get a do-over as the President of the United States.”

Plus, they could cut ads about the Democratic Congress getting rolled by President Bush for the last two years. If he is really so unpopular, then why is he still getting his way.

Best Primary ever, Dean. Thanks!

I’m going to need some movies to go with all the popcorn I will be popping.

smellthecoffee on March 6, 2008 at 2:14 PM

They are completely spineless, with a new brain-numb mantra of “YES WE CAN”.

Children, they are.

I pray for corruption to be exposed.

Red Pill on March 6, 2008 at 1:55 PM

It wasn’t corruption- it was God’s will.

You know- the same God that’s going to perform a miracle and make the Huckster the nominee.

I enjoyed the article about Crist’s girlfriend and found the comments to be astute. This is a Veep ploy, IMHO.

Crist is about the only politician I know who beats Edwards in the artificial and not quite real department. The real persona is buried under too many layers of plastic tan.

I’m from Florida and I don’t want a dime to go to a do-over. If the Dems really want one, then they can pay for it. There probably would be problems with voters who had registered as Republicans back in December to meet the deadline to do a cross-over vote back in January. They might have already re-registered as Dems. (plus there were stories about south Florida folks being given a ballot that they should not have had).

I think all primaries should be closed and that unless you are a new voter registering for the first time, you should not be allowed to change party affiliations for about six months before an election.

…Enough with the silly conspiracy nonsense- there were countless debates…

Hollowpoint on March 6, 2008 at 1:08 PM

Countless debates? You mean like the one scheduled for February 28th, which was cancelled because McCain didn’t want to debate Huckabee 1-on-1? Or the ones where the distribution of time per candidate was far from equitable? Or the one on February 2 in New York where Clinton and Obama showed up, but McCain and Romney didn’t (to make Paul and Huckabee look silly without the Republican “big dogs”)?

Let’s all do our part to ensure our debates and elections are carried out with honesty and integrity.

I pray for corruption to be exposed.

However, the obvious answer is to draft Al! Unlike Obama and Hillary, he is both a charismatic campaigner–and a proven winner. Like Hubert Humphrey.

James on March 6, 2008 at 1:06 PM

I just don’t believe Hillary will “suck it up”. She will continue to push for some way for her to count these delegates. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she and her minions choreographed the whole thing… move the primary date up, get the DNC to say it won’t count, campaign in Florida when she pledged not to, win the sham primaries in FL and MI, and then try to get them to count.

I agree with you that Super Tuesday, and McCain’s clinching, happened without candidates that dropped out after Florida and Michigan. While this is unlikely, I’d actually like to see what would happen if all of the Republican candidates were allowed to campaign again in FL and MI. It would be very telling to see who wins.

Our elections must be kept honest, and I pray for any corruption to be exposed.

Triceratops isn’t going to pay any attention to those of us against abortion, for strong borders, etc.

Where the GOP did roll over is putting these NY elitist snobs in control of our destiny. IMO, it will fail in November because Rudy/McCain/Bloomberg/Allah liberalism continues to alienate the very voters that the GOP needs. It must be very satisfying to stick out one’s middle finger at those one disagrees with but McCain simply isn’t going to be able to generate any enthusiasm outside NYC and among a bunch of political traitors like the Democrat-lite junta that hijacked the party.

highhopes on March 6, 2008 at 12:57 PM

HH – has hit a GREAT point here!!!!

Okay let’s try to clear this up. The Republicans are a solid majority in the Florida legislature. Moving the primary up to Jan 29th was the Republicans’ idea. Democrats were opposed.

That’s not completely true:

And Jeremy Ring, a Democratic state senator from Broward County and co-sponsor of the legislation, defended it.
“If the choice is Florida is relevant and has no delegates versus being irrelevant and having delegates, I’d choose being relevant with no delegates,” Ring said. “We did this so 18 million Floridians could take part in the presidential primaries, not so a few hundred people can go to a party in Denver.”

The FL state Democratic party opposed the move, but the bill had backing (and was co-sponsored by) Democrats in the Florida legislature.

They’re playing chicken with our pal Dean-o at the DNC here, insisting that their states can’t possibly afford to hold new primaries — it’d cost Florida $18 mil and Michigan $10 mil — so unless the DNC wants to pick up the tab, it can either seat the delegates from the original primaries or disenfranchise five million people.

Can’t George Soros use his Socialist millions of $ to fund the re-vote?

I love hypocrisy – rich, Socialists.

Danish and Branch; Crist is doing the GOP a big favor by pushing this.michaelo on March 6, 2008 at 12:20 PM

Wake up. They don’t need Crist for a convention blow-up. He’s a useful idiot fool-tool for Dems and is a major manipulator (one does not need “superhuman powers” to manipulate). He is just trying to get national name recognition for his pathetic attempt at Veep nod for GOP ticket. Don’t make me vomit.

I’m not sure what you mean by “rolled over.” The GOP primaries were rigged from the beginning to get a liberal Republican the nomination. It was supposed to have been Rudy but McCain is just as good a substitute. The party elite decided that they didn’t need social conservatives to buck up their support if they can pander to Democrats.

highhopes on March 6, 2008 at 12:57 PM

Jump the shark much?

They “rigged” the primaries to nominate a moderate and disenfranchise social cons… by allowing Iowa to vote first and for Huckabee?

Enough with the silly conspiracy nonsense- there were countless debates, ads run and interviews conducted. I’m not happy that McCain is the nominee either, but blaming it on some nameless, faceless cabal of “elites” who “rigged” the election is absurd.