Saturday, May 14, 2011

With Mike Huckabee out, will anyone emerge as the ANYONE BUT ROMNEY candidate?

There is no doubt in my mind that Mike Huckabee was a major obstacle in the way of a Mitt Romney Presidency. Now that Huckabee has removed himself from the race, who will emerge and carry the torch for the "Anyone But Romney" following?

Anyone?

Can an unknown, at this point get into the mix and garner enough support this late in the game. And yes, With Huckabee out, It is getting late in the game IMO.

Polls suggest that Romney benefits the most from Huckabee not running,

Look at Iowa and South Carolina now. Those were the only early states that Romney and Huckabee were competative in. With Huckabe out, What are the chances of an IOWA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEVADA, SOUTH CAROLINA, and FLORIDA Sweep?

23 comments:

Corep said...

Bos-

look for Michelle Bachmann to make some noise in IA. I think Tpaw may have a shot there too. Daniels is still the wild card imo.

there are usually only 3 that come out of Iowa. Barring a huge collapse Mitt is going to be one of them. I can see a scenario where Michelle wins IA and Tpaw is third. then you get Mitt in NH and probably Tpaw in 2nd there as well.

I could also see it being Daniels and Bachmann coming out of Ia along with Mitt. then you get a tighter race in NH for the top spot but Mitt still wins there.

SC is a crap shoot to me. If Nikki and Graham get behind Mitt then it might not matter if Demint stays with his stubborn approach. If mitt doesnt get those two then SC in my view is a 2nd for Mitt. that means its Florida again that decides Mitt's fate just lie last time. Although with Huck out you have to really like that scenario for Mitt!

Anonymous said...

This may sound strange, but does anyone see any chance of a Romney/Huckabee ticket?

Romney is still in his mid-50's. If the ticket wins, Huckabee would be set-up for 16 or 20.

Corep said...

Anon- that would be possible, but it would mean alot of humility on the part of Huckabee who really doesnt like mitt.

For the record Mitt is 64.. it's amazing what living a life devoid of drugs and alcohol and tobacco will do for ya

Bill589 said...

“With Huck out, will anyone emerge as the ABR candidate?”

Ouuuu! I know one! (Waving arm stretched up high) Pick me. Pick me - I know one!

Anonymous said...

Now when Palin announces that she won't run, Then What?

ConMan said...

Corep,

I don't see Pawlenty emerging in Iowa. He is already a known quantity there.

His only hope was the race dragging out and hoping it went to a delegate race. I don't see that happening. I think this may be a very boring primary. It may even turn into a coronation.

Anonymous said...

Romney/Cain!!!!!!!

Corep said...

conman,

i would like that coronation but not sure it will happen. Now if Mitt does win IA, then the coronation will be on :)

Anonymous said...

Just heard there's a run on Kool aide in the deep south.

Anonymous said...

This is good news, but now Huck can attack Mitt from the safety of being a private citizen and not a candidate, and Mitt won't be able to atack back without seeming small.
MikeZ

Anonymous said...

I agree with you Mike. Huck will continue to attack Romney with reckless abandon. I'm convinced that taking Romney down is a top priority. It has always seemed to be an obsession with him for whatever reason.

But, Romney will do what he always does--which is to ignore it. Romney doesn't have the temperament nor the time for pettiness. He's got work to do.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Bosman, tough question.

T-Paw doesn't have what it takes, IMO, and Daniels is as reluctant as heck. He's got some good things going for him, but honestly, he's more boring than T-Paw. With a lot of the establishment behind him, I think he stands the best chance of competing with Romney.

I'm not convinced that Bachmann is running, or that Palin isn't.

-Martha

Pablo said...

I think Pawlenty and Daniels are the only two who can bring down Romney. Daniels is the more serious possibility.

Bill589 said...

I agree with Martha: I’m not convinced that Palin isn’t running either.

Actually, I’m pretty convinced that the game's on.

CraigS said...

Hi Bos
If the only ABR issue is healthcare and the only healthcare issue is " Mandates ", Mitt's in pretty good shape. I just read a Union Leader editorial about Romney's state healthcare mandates vs the people's " liberties". The article claimed that conservative issues with mandates are that they take away the liberty of the people to choose.
O.K let's see if we get it...
1. A mandate requires you to do something as opposed to a law which requires you NOT to do something.
2. In a state of nature; i.e., no law/mandate, no one would HAVE to buy health insurance. Therefore , these folks would also get NO FREE HEALTHCARE. Therefore, some of these folks would get sick and die. That is what liberty means. Mitt was concerned that many, perhaps 500,000 of his citizens would be too poor and would, indeed, get sick and die.
3. The alternative , still with NO MANDATES, is that some other people would pay TWICE for healthcare. Once for themselves and once for the folks whose liberty was protected, so they did not have to buy health insurance. Of course, their liberty was protected and insured because they took their healthcare from their neighbor whose " liberty " was cleaned out by paying twice for the same healthcare. Thus, the Union Leader defines a free society as one in which some people's freedoms are paid for by stealing freedom and money from others.
CraigS

CraigS said...

And before I forget, everybody including the WSJ, need to ask themselves to answer the following question:

Isn't the requirement that health care insureds pay the healthcare costs of the non healthcare insureds...............a government mandate ? Isn't that what we have in most if not all of the 49 states that don't have MassCare ?

CraigS

OhioJOE said...

It is perhaps a strange thing that the front runner as of a few days ago is out of the picture. His 601 delegates have to go somewhere and Mr. Romney gets about 114 of them to lead with 613. In part because she all of a sudden gets delegates in state and districts that she would not, so far, Mrs. Palin is the big winner, getting 154 new delegates (mostly from the South and Midwest) to out her in a strong second with about 497 delegates. So by definition she is the new anti-Romney candidate.

To be sure, Mr. Trump, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Paul all have at least a few hundred delegates. Mrs. Bachmann, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Cristie are next. Of course in the end we do not know who will run or how the Huckabeeites will vote, but rest assured, there will be an Anti-Romneyite candidate. With high unemployment and high food and gas prices, too many Conservatives are in no mood to trust the author of MAcare to influence the country's economy.

Anonymous said...

Palin won't run. too much $$ to lose, and that is her only consideration. Not you, not me. Cash flow. It's why Mike ain't running either, regardless of what he said last night.
Ellie

Anonymous said...

Right OJ, I can't wait to see a few polls out now to see how Hucks absense affects Palin. She might very well run now. However, she has to know that Huck being out in no way affects her general election chances.

MikeZ

OhioJOE said...

Well Mike Z, it will take a few polls to see how the absence of Mr. Huckabee affects the primary. Yes, his exit in and of itself won't change the general election, but other factors have yet to shake out for that.

Right Wingnut said...

OJ,

The polls will continue to be meaningless until the field is complete, and the campaign is in full gear. If respondents don't think Palin is running, they're less likely to offer her name to the pollster.

Bill589 said...

SP’s Facebook ‘likes’ jumped big since Huck quit. That may be a sign that some are at least considering her.

Anonymous said...

Bill, I think it's natural that SP's Facebook page "likes" would jump after Huckabee's announcement. Just a word of caution to some of her passionate supporters--please police the comments carefully. Interspersed with what will undoubtedtly be reasonable comments, you can look forward to receiving a great deal of anti-Mormon vitriol, including criticizing Mitt literally right down to his underwear. Of course, many of these criticisms will have actually nothing to do with whether or not he can function as POTUS. Being the anti-Romney candidate happens to carry the onerous burden of cleaning up the comments. Huck was never very good at that. Hopefully, Sarah Palin will do a better job.

AZ