I've got a feeling that CGroveStapleton will soon be polling well in New Hampshire! He already got the reach around from esteban.
Not this time. Remember, unlike 2008, there is no John McCain (or equivalent). Iowa wasn't a blow at all to Romney winning the nomination. There is no alternative this year. Romney may not close the sale as quickly as he hoped, but it's a done deal. Major, I don't agree with you on Huntsman. In 2016, the GOP won't choose another "moderate". More than any other potential 2016 candidate, Romney losing to Obama punctures Huntsman. They will select an electable conservative and have little patience for the fringe kooks. I wouldn't be surprised if the process is similar to 1999/2000 where the GOP settled on a candidate or two early and nobody else has much of a chance. An early 2015 straw poll in Iowa might clear the field.
True - the original premise (when the idea was first floated around this summer) was that the GOP would pick a crazy person like Perry, and thus Huntsman was setting himself up for 2016. It doesn't work nearly as well with Romney being the pick.
yup. he's a nutter. i suspect the candidates were listed in alphabetical order and the delegates kept rejecting everyone on the list until they ran out of names. Santorum would be the 'none of the above' vote.
Get back to us when you have purged yourself of the hogwash put out by Fox News and the echo chamber which you have chosen to swallow.
Can conventions still draft a nominee? Are there any smoke filled rooms anymore? (my thought if the GOP really wanted a race they should convince Christie)
Yes and no. Delegates are committed through one round of voting. So if one candidate has 50+% of the delegates, he's set. After that, it's a free for all and they can all vote for whomever they want, so you could get someone out of nowhere. The odds of one candidate not having 50% of the delegates is extremely low; it's easier in the Dem primary where there is a lot of proportional delegation so a candidate like Ron Paul could collect a good chunk of delegates without ever winning anything. But from my understanding of GOP rules, its far less effective there.
So is no one talking about the abortion Santorum's wife had because her health was at risk, something he does not favor for those other than his wife? Nevermind he absolute creepiness of taking the dead fetus home for a night.
I just want to know who the official candidate will be. Then, Obama can relax with his plans to destroy the "competition."