Romney had a lead in delegates, primary wins and voter count after wyoming. Michigan is icing on the cake. Why is wyoming over looked when it is on par with New Hampshire for electoral votes?

It isn't surprising that Romney would set the bar so low in South Carolina.  He is the former governor from Mass.  This is the furtherest south the election cycle has gone.  From all the reports, Huckabee, Thompson and McCain have been spending a fair amount more time there.  

I would be surprised if neither Thompson or Huckabee does worse than 3rd place.  If Thompson gets 4th place or worse, then I would expect him not to stay in much longer than that.  If Huckabee gets 4th or worse, I would expect that might hurt his possiblities in Florida and Super Dooper Tuesday as well as fund raising.  

This is a pretty good analysis.  The national polls still show McCain and Guiliani to be the main vote holders "if the election were held today"--but Mitt Romney is certainly looking more and more impressive.  His win in Michigan was so overwhelming, that it must be a little more than embarrassing to both the Huckabee and McCain camps, however.  Ron Paul still appeals to a small minority of people, but the fact is, those "two golds and two silvers" mean a lot more to me than all the rhetoric I've heard from the other candidates.  This might be Mitt Romney's chance to shine.

I just don't get all the focus on South Carolina. Yes, it's a horse race, but this is looking more and more like a year where delegate count may be more important than momentum which seems to shift with each horse race. And on that basis, Nevada has more delegates than South Carolina. Reading this (and the work of virtually all the pundits) you'd think Nevada didn't have a Republican caucus this weekend.

Romney won and has been at the top of every primary, because he is the only well-rounded conservative with a chance on winning the presidency. Here’s why:
He has more executive experience than any candidate.
He is a strong social conservative.
He has vision for change
He can turn around other mistakes made prior to his taking the Job. (Bain Capital, Olympics, MA. Huge deficit, Big Dig Fiasco, and he'll do the same in Iraq)
Huckabee is a nice guy... so is Jimmy Carter
Mccain is a great american but he continually pals around with Kennedy, Lieberman, Feingold etc..
Be Smart. Look at the Facts.
VOTE ROMNEY

Apparently, what we've thought all along is now proven true: Romney donors are fully backing the Club for Growth in their attack ads against Huckabee.  Some of them donated over $200,000 right before Christmas, as Huckabee started to surge.  Typical dirtbag move by the Romney folks, who will say or do anything to try and win, unrestrained by the truth.  

Federal laws capping individual contributions at $2300?  No problem, just set up a 527 group as a loophole and donate as much as you'd like!  

I hope this gets out soon, so the people can continue to see what a fraud Romney is.

Here are the details:

[link]http://my.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1198[/link]

Romney does have the most delegates, most wins(yes, he won Wyoming and received more delegates than McCain received in New Hampshire), and the worst he has placed is a close second. No other candidate can say this. Romney is the front-runner and is safer than any other candidate for the time being. He has proved to be the best candidate regarding immigration as endorsed by Tancredo after dropping out of the race. Michigan proves his economic expertise above and beyond the rest of the pack. Romney will continue to just get better and better like fine wine.

"Vietnam Veterans Against McCain"?  Sounds suspiciously like "Swift Boat Veterans For Truth"

Funny how none of the Democrats seem to give up on winning states. Cherry picking states (ala Bush/Rove) is what us got in the mess we're in. Way to go Republicans. Rudy...President of Florida. Mitt...President of Michigan. Huckleberry...President of Iowa. McCain...President of New Hampshire. No thanks. I want a President of the entire United States.

Lorenzo...why would Huckabee be embarrassed by his 3rd place finish in Michigan?  Romney grew up there, his dad was a 3 term governor, and McCain won Michigan in 2000.  Besides, Huckabee didn't have a paid staffer there until last Wednesday!  And he'd only made one stop there prior to last Thursday.  

I think the fact that he was able to garner 16% of the vote in a state he hadn't visited and had no organization is pretty impressive.  

I am glad that Romney is going more positive, (while I don't believe that his comparative ads were very negative in the first place).  He has plenty going for him, and he can go a long way simply on his merits and successes.  The idea that Washington needs serious reformation certainly resonates with me.

I can't believe that a dirty State like South Carolina that ran such a nasty dirty primary in 2000 should once again be given the honor of an early primary test. Once again they are push-polling and once again they are attacking McCain in a dirty shameless way by questioning his military service. That man may not be your favorite presidential candidate but DO NOT make him sound like a traitor to his country. He has given more than most can imagine Such actions from so-called respectable republicans, once again, are despicable. Next time around, lets pick another southern state.

Whenever Mitt Phoney speaks he makes me want to vomit.

Interesting spin from some of you.  Romney had a good win yesterday but it wasn't an overwhelming win. It was his home state where the Romney name is legendary.  He was suppose to win this state and win by a large margin.  He spent the most money and had 80% of the michigan GOP party on his side.  The idea that he had to spend alot of resources on his home state is not a good thing.  Politically he survived but I would still be a little worried if I was a Romney fan.  He does not have that broad appeal that will  allow him to win big on Super Tuesday.  He would need to win in florida to have a shot at that.

So who is the front runner?  Still McCain.  He got a little dinged in Michigan, but not as bad as Huckabee and Giuliani.  Huckabee was suppose to compete and he came in a distant 3rd.  He has become a niche candidate who doesn't have much appeal outside the evangelical base.  Giuliani is running a pathetic campaign.

It looks like it is going to come down to Huckabee/Thompson/McCain to win SC.  Who ever wins SC will probably win Florida.  Romney will throw money in florida but he will probably finish second or third.  Which means he has no momentum going into Feb 5.

'Michigan proves his economic expertise above and beyond the rest of the pack.'
James, Honolulu, HI (Sent Wednesday, January 16, 2008 4:14 PM)

No it doesnt.  It just proves that he rehearsed what sounded good to the voters of Michigan to get them out to the polls.  You really don't know what you are getting until he gets the job.

Restoring the Middle Class, Prosperity and Quality Jobs in the United States

You must have a viable strategy that will be inherently financially supported and carried forward by the "invisible hand of economic globalization". The US is declining as the global economic leader, only because the Fed Gov and powerful interests do not have a viable strategy.

The US became the Economic Leader of the World only by the recognized hard work of Franklin, Edison, Westinghouse, Henry Ford, Einstein, and the countless technically creative, engineers and scientists, inventors, as strong individual leaders, led the world in INNOVATION. (Greenspan has listed INNOVATION as the missing ingredient in the current US strategy, that was previously was in place, and the related Intellectual Property and Patents, built this country to become the World Leader).

The adverse influence of powerful large entities, major venture capitalists, CEO’s, and other powers using lobbies, now erroneously promote what actually built this US, as high risk, discouraging financial support for qualified individual technologists, inventors, scientists, and engineers. We are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Most important the current US decline can only be eradicated by a new direction to create a quality domestic industry, protected from the “offshore competition” by innovations Americans control with US Patents. Studies at MIT and other entities have proven that these qualified individuals working independently have, always created the most significant inventions and new manufacturing with secure quality jobs.

Restoring the Middle Class, prosperity and quality jobs in the US will only happen when you create approval certification programs for technologists to receive financial backing, and restore tax shelters for financial support of individual qualified engineers, scientists, medical doctors, researchers, inventors, and start-ups. In this way, the current 80% employment that is provided by small entities would generate a wealthy middle class, instead of a group of “hamburger flippers”. This will also solve the problem of math and science leadership of young people, and encourage the neglected 40% of high IQ students to pursue math and science.

As a graduate engineer and small entity inventor, I have started ventures and provided quality jobs, some under now defunct technical tax shelters, and in other instances the corporate large entities, like the old “robber barons” have managed to rob me of some of my important Intellectual Property. My personal experience validates the sad lack of financial support for technologists.

David A. Estabrooks, ScM

estabrooksdavid@yahoo.com      
   915-613-2116    617-240-2968

asher, it's not spin.  Romney's Michigan win was stronger than anticipated.  He said and did the right things.  You're the one spinning the results.  "Native son", etc.  McCain won Michigan by 100,000 votes in 2000.  He lost by 80 to 90,000 in 2008 that's a swing of almost 200,000 votes. That's a decisive defeat.  McCain was a defeatist in Michigan and he lost.  Hopefully, people will recognize that he's been part of the problem in Washington.  Need we mention his crappy legislation and his rejection of the Bush tax cuts.  All McCain has is his war experience and it's diminishing daily now that the economy is at the forefront.

ROMNEY in '08!!

Chris, your source is a link to the Huckster website?  Huck has lied about Romney in ads trying to imply that he supported government payment for abortions when its was the courts who forced it.  In his ad he also critized Romney for having no executions in Mass. never mentioning that Romney faught to have the death penalty reinstated.  The Huckster is an ethically challenged politician who is now trying to attack Romney because he has been successful.  I always thought getting a great education and being successful was what America is all about.

"Why is Wyoming over looked when it is on par with New Hampshire for electoral votes?"

Look at the roster of candidates who competed there for the answer to that question. Romney beat out Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson for the win in the WY caucuses. That's Duncan, who & Fred, huh? Nobody else bothered. Other than the absolute that a win is better than a loss, that's a slate I wouldn't be too anxious to brag about beating.

Steve, I agree.  I think the focus on SC is more of a habit- because typically the person who won there also won the South, and then pretty much the nomination.  But usually there were only 2 possibilities going into SC.


Chris- yeah right, because a website called mikehuckabee.com is really going to tell us the unbiased truth about Romney.  Get real- Huck is playing just as "dirty" as eveyone else.
Romney has said that he plans on campaigning in both SC and NV.  He'll probably do decently in NV- I don't think anyone else is really paying attention to it.  He probably feels like he still needs to make a showing in SC since the media puts so much emphasis on it and he doesn't want to come in last...

It's not unreasonable for him to be fine with a 3rd or strong 4th finish in SC.  He doesn't have the military or evangelical base that McCain and Huckabee/Thompson have as their strengths there.  If he can do decently and get a few delegates there, and do well in NV and get delegates there, then he still might be in the delegate lead after FL (where winner takes all).  That would mean he would still be the delegate front runner going into Super Tuesday... since this may all come down to delegate counts for the first time in a century, that's good for Romney...

Dave, Huckabee might be embarrassed by his loss in MI because he even lost to Romney among his fans- the evangelicals.  Plus, he was briefly in the lead/2nd after Iowa.  So much for the surge effect.

Opa2- I agree.  Fortunately the garbage coming out against McCain is not from the other candidates- it's from the same independent crazies that did it last time.  I don't like McCain, but this is lame. Of course, so is the push polling that some of the candidates ARE doing...

asher- 9% is a big win- especially since McCain was leading in the polls in MI up until a few days before (and the day of according to some).  Romney has the most delegates- that makes him the technical front runner, even if McCain is the media favorite.  Yesterday did hurt him. My guess is that he'll win in SC, because Thompson will take some of Huck's votes.  Florida is sort of a free-for-all... but again, don't forget about NV- more delegates that SC!

JWilson- "You really don't know what you are getting until he gets the job."  

Which could be said about ALL the candidates.  Romney has a staffer that keeps notes on all his promises.  He fulfilled them in Mass, I'm sure that's his goal if he becomes president too.

Even the guys taste in deserts sucks.

"Even the guys taste in deserts sucks."

yeah, he prefers the Mojave to the Sahara.... what is he thinking???!!!

Nathan- who are you talking about?  And perhaps you meant desSert? Or are you really referring to the great, hot, usually sandy expanses that are called deserts?

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