Omnibus GOP Primary ThreadFollow

I'm sure party loyalty is why her constituents voted her in.

Do Republicans hate woman? If they don't, then why would Rush double down on his "****" comment before being forced into apologizing do to loss of sponsors, or Santorum going out of his way to alienate Catholic woman (Of whom, 98% use some form of contraceptives), it's like they have no desire to get votes from anyone other than ignorant men.

The complete & utter lack of a Karl Rove figure organizing the establishment in order to garner the popular vote has caused the party to alienate most voters while pandering to the tea partiers in order to get primary votes.

It's fantastic.

The popular vote isn't important.

I saw the first Rick Santorum signs pop up like mushrooms on the corners where political advertising is allowed.

I wanted to make signs to set next to them that says "Google for more information!"

Is it too late to enter Paul Ryan into the primaries?

I really don't like any of the potential GOP candidates.

Ugh. Well, at least his spontaneity won't embarrass the GOP voting base. I don't think that guy ever says anything without practicing it 3 times beforehand.

A lot of my friends are tossing down spoiler votes here in GA since we have an open primary system and they gleefully want to cause as much chaos democracy as possible. Husband voted for Ron Paul, and another friend is voting for Newt.

Newt has all but said that if he loses Georgia, he's out for the count, but all signs point to him having a shot at it.

Actually, one would think she caucuses with the Pubs, since she does. I know she doesn't always vote the way Rush can Co. says she should, but she's far from a Democrat. Making deals and occasionally compromising isn't a bad thing. If more politicians were willing to do it, we'd be in a better place.

This is from Sunday's paper. I just got around to reading it last night.

A couple facts from the article....

I think (and mine isn't a unique opinion) that Santorum joined the race just to raise his name awareness and parlay it into a hosting gig on Fox or something. Same with Gingrich and Cain. None of them really built a campaign infrastructure going into the race and all seemed caught flat-footed and unprepared when the spotlight hit them.

Certainly possible. Don't forget Palin and Trump, who's flirtations with running were even more about brand awareness.

Really makes you question the whole thing. I wonder if the trend will continue that way for the next GOP primary, and what it is about the GOP that's making this such a viable technique.

A couple significant differences:

(1) The 2008 Democratic primary was more about degrees than differences. Debating whose universal health care plan was more universal or who was against the Iraq war first is different than Romney saying his opponents are attacking the root of capitalism or Santorum/Gingrich saying Romney is really a moderate and not conservative at all. You didn't have the same schism of who the "real" Democrat was.

(2) The 2008 Democratic primary was down to two people before February. We still have four GOP candidates running with no one getting better than a weak plurality. The "best" candidate still has two-thirds of the primary electorate not picking him. This is where the split conservative votes between Santorum & Gingrich is really benefiting Romney in the delegates fight.

(3) The 2008 Democratic primary battle didn't have the same bruising effect. The worst favorability Obama endured during the 2008 season was -2 during the Jeremiah Wright thing and generally stayed above water throughout. Romney's favorability has gone from -1 (Oct 2011) to -16 today. Granted he may yet rehabilitate his image but doing so will be a climb the Democratic candidates didn't have to undergo.

None of this is to say it'll cause anyone to win or lose or whatever. But there's a reason why this contest is making the GOP nervous.