(updated Friday)
... but here's a tweet from Public Policy Polling:
Is something really afoot, or do a few of PPP's readers just think there might be?
At the very least, you'd think the GOP's machers would be looking for a Plan C at this point, now that it's clear that GOP voters don't like Mitt and the rest of America doesn't like the Last Not-Mitt Standing. I really do think that, if Gingrich seems to be enduring and Romney seems unable to gain traction, there'll be some serious attempts to fiddle with the nominating process so Jeb or Chris Christie or Mitch Daniels or Haley Barbour or, God help us, Paul Ryan can get the nomination.
And hi, gulag -- I know you'll have something to say about this in comments.
****
UPDATE, FRIDAY: Here's more -- Dave Weigel reports
It started when the mayor of Merrifield, New Hampshire, tweeted that he'd gotten a robo-poll asking about a possible Jeb Bush presidential campaign. It's continued, with random granite state citizens getting the same calls....
New Hampshire allows write-in candidates, but I think that's not the point -- the point, if Gingrich is on a roll, is to cobble together enough non-Gingrich votes in various states (for Romney, for candidates who've dropped out, for late entries, and so on) to form a stop-Gingrich bloc and prevent a Gingrich first-ballot victory. i'm sure some bigs have actually worked out a hypothetical route to that in some detail.
7 comments:
Hmmm. There's this on Chris Christie too - taking a very reasonable position on drug policy as he travels around supposedly campaigning for Romney. It would be something to see if the "rabble" of the Republican party chooses Newt but the power brokers overthrow their choice at the convention. Could get really ugly.
I've said it before - I would not be surprised to see Jeb walk out of the convention with the nomination. All the rest of this is just media trope until then.
Maybe they're throwing the election, maybe not. Maybe they did in ought-eight, maybe not. Maybe they actually have a plan. Maybe this whole Girl With Faraway Eyes, Mittens, Newt Skywalker batshit insane assault on sense and sensibilities is just softening up the base for the one true savior. The Anointed One.
[if your think you read that somewhere in a science fiction novel, you did)
It would be something to see if the "rabble" of the Republican party chooses Newt but the power brokers overthrow their choice at the convention. Could get really ugly.
I have an alternate scenario that I haven't written up yet. i'll post it soon.
Steve,
Thanks for remembering!
I've been saying Jeb's the fall-back for a long, long time.
The American peoples memories are very short, and if Jeb runs and can show people that he's "Not George!", and he's clearly NOT, he could win not just the nomination, but the general.
I've also long been talking about Marco Rubio as a potential VP candidate. However, I think Rubio would be out as a running mate with Jeb because it would be too Floridian and Southern.
Pair him with VP candidates like Ryan, Christie, maybe even Nikki Haley (thought that may be too Southern, and she too inexperienced yet), and you have have a pretty formidable ticket). Jeb/McDonnell would also scare the shit out of me.
But I think Jeb/Ryan makes the most political sense - it would allow Republicans to combine the South, the old-school conservative Conservatives, Wall Street, the Teabaggers, the war mongers, and disaffected Mid-westerners, into a powerful force. Plus, Jeb can make a reasonable pitch for Hispanic votes, based on his wife, and, unlike Little Boots, Jeb can actually speak the language.
And if he loses in '12, he'll be primed for '16.
I can definitely see this happening.
Jeb/McDonnell would also scare the shit out of me.
McDonnell scares the shit out of me, too -- he's Romney with actual wingnut conviction and voter appeal.
I can see the possibility of a brokered GOP convention/candidate (and, with any luck, a badly fractured party as a result), but I'm skeptical. I think we politics freaks tend to titillate ourselves every 4 years with such scenarios, but then as the process grinds on it becomes obvious no such thing will happen. I'd bet at least 60/40 on that being the outcome this time as well.
That being said, though, if it came to a brokered candidate & his last name was Bush, I'd feel just fine about that. I don't think all the distinction-drawing and finessing in the world would suffice to get the electorate past that last name; moreover, it would give the Ds a gratis issue (a 3rd Bush = a "royal family"). The only thing that might suffice, IMO, would be for W to publicly oppose Jeb, or for Jeb to publicly repudiate W, & I doubt either would be found credible by the voters.
It's about this. Someone is robo-polling Romney vs. Gingrich vs. Jeb Bush in New Hampshire.
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