Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The home court weakness of the GOP field
Michael Barone, who in his command of American political statistics is an American treasure, notes that the current crop of GOP presidential candidates has not run well in their home states, at least relative to other Republicans. In other words, if you were under the impression that our current choices are not particularly appealing, you are not necessarily a Democrat, liberal, or pinko.
The same, by the way, is not true of Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, or Mitch Daniels.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Sep 27, 11:49:00 AM:
I don't really read anything by Michael Barone but I think a lot of these opinions are being thrown out there by The Establishment Republicans who are trying to tell us who we should vote for. Krauthhammer actually came out with something that had me stumped. He said Romney is a Conservative! Is he out of his mind? Of course, Krauthammer wrote speeches for Mondale so maybe, to him, Romney is a Conservative. I think people, in general, are sick of the pompous asses who try to tell us how we should think. Christie, Ryan, and Daniels are being backed by the Establishment Republicans, who are all the same. We don't need more of the same.
By 
Dawnfire82, at
Tue Sep 27, 12:36:00 PM:
I tend to agree, though Ryan seems to clearly understand how serious things are. The same plague that has brought down democracies since ancient Athens (looting of the public treasury) is bringing us down now.
I was telling my wife a few days ago as we planned for the future that in 20 years there might not even be a United States of America. I have little faith that 'the establishment' has the will or the balls to change things. They're too invested in the way things are now. By the time it becomes politically palatable for them to act, it will be too late to stave off disaster.
But at least the civil violence will be cathartic.
By Jim MIller, at
Thu Sep 29, 11:21:00 AM:
Read the Barone column carefully, and you will find that he makes a partial exception for Mitt Romney.
"Romney won the 2002 govenor race by a 50%-45% margin—one instance where one of this year’s presidential candidates pretty clearly outperformed the Republican base—which was roughly comparable to the 51%-47% margin of Republican Governor Paul Cellucci in 1998."
(Perry is a little harder to figure.)
