Whom You Prefer All Depends on Your Point of Déjà Vu

From the Morning Jolt...spot on.

"I'm thinking of a Republican primary. It starts with a candidate (John McCain/Mitt Romney) who ran once before, came in second place, and won over the party's elite class without winning over its base. Other candidates, understandably unwilling to accept this, line up: An under-funded social conservative (Mike Huckabee/Rick Santorum), an elder statesman who's walked to the altar three times (Rudy Giuliani/Newt Gingrich), a libertarian who wants to bring back the gold standard (Ron Paul/Ron Paul).
The conservative base is displeased. In the year before the primary, it pines for a perfect candidate. At the end of summer, on (September 5/August 13), it gets him: (Fred Thompson/Rick Perry). The dream candidate immediately rises to the top of national polls, but collapses after lazy, distaff debate performances. When the primaries arrive, he's in single digits and reduced to attacking the front-runners. But in Iowa, he does just well enough to justify staying in the race.

The Republican base looks at the wreckage and shudders. It can never allow this to happen ever again."

8 Votes

Eight votes in Iowa gave Mitt Romney a sweep of Iowa and NH. That hasn't happened since 1976. So even though Iowa was basically a statistical tie, just as in sports, a win is a win is a win. I just listened to Romney's victory speech. He has evidently hired a new speech writer. It was a great speech, light years better than his Iowa victory speech. Regardless of the results tonight, there are three viable candidates: Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich. Paul, Perry, and Hunstman have no chance. Gingrich and Santorum and Paul are splitting the conservative vote. Paul won't be getting out any time soon. Looks like Mitt is on a roll. The nomination is his to lose.