Republican Primary Update

Now that we are several states into the Republican presidential primary season, its seems like a good time for a quick take from Caputo's Corner on what is going.  I have to admit, my best friend on the radio lately has been WTOP (103.5 on your FM dial in the DC area), which is where I have been getting most of my information lately as well as a few internet sites and my news feed here at the blog.  I still believe that the circus atmosphere surrounding this is absurd.  However, what is more absurd is the way the media (on all networks) seem to coronate Mitt Romney the winner before any voting ever takes place.  Now, this is of course not unique to this election cycle, but I would not be totally against it if media outlets refused to release a single pre-election poll.  After all, if there is an aura of inevitability surrounding Romney's win, what incentive do people who want to vote for Gingrich, Santorum, or Paul have to get out and vote?  Exactly, they have none.  There is nothing wrong with statistics (I am a science guy after all), but when it comes to electioneering, candidates spend more time either getting on their soap box with poll data or refuting it all together.  Seriously, take the polls off the TV screen, and it dramatically changes the outcome.

As far as the candidates go, right now it looks like Romney is starting to run away and hide.  Paul and Santorum are essentially dead ducks, but kudos to Gingrich for at least saying he's going to campaign all the way to the convention in Tampa.  Romney is the quintessential "establishment" candidate.  He lost to McCain four years ago, and therefore it is now "his turn."  Media outlets (there they are again...) have stated since the cycle started that Romney is the only one who could give Obama a run for his money in November.  However, I think the Obama camp knows that Romney is EXACTLY the guy they want running on the Republican side.  If you look at Romney's track record, there isn't that much different between Obama's policy as president and Romney's policy as governor of Taxachusetts.  The most striking similarity is that they are both proponents of universal health care (Obamacare and Romneycare), so if Romney were to somehow be elected there is absolutely no way Obamacare gets repealed before the mandate goes into effect in 2014.  The surprising (and quite frankly rediculous) thing is that nobody on the Republican side is taking Romney to task on that.  Instead, they are attacking him for his successes at investment firm Bain Capital...which I thought was supposed to be a Republican talking point.  Usually candidates don't run to the center until after the convention, but I guess conservatism nowadays is a dirty word.

In any event, Gingrich seems to be the most viable anti-establilshment candidate left in the field.  However, any chance he has at the nomination had to be from southern states, thanks to his win in South Carolina.  If nothing else, Gingrich staying in it until the end probably will mean that the Republican platform will be more conservative than if Romney were to win it in a walkover.  Don't forget, friends, that the convention not only nominates the candidate, but establishes the election year platform as well.  If Gingrich can win a few more states here and there, the conservatives (and most notably the Tea Party) will get a lot more of their agenda into the platform.  Romney may even also be forced to take Gingrich as a running mate, although that seems unlikely at this point considering the ferocious mudslinging.   It shall be (somewhat) interesting to watch regardless.