the 10 o'clock report
Okay, some observations:
-- First of all, whoever made the call for McCain's people to get behind Huckabee in West Virginia made possibly the smartest call of the day. Romney's complaining--via a surrogate--that this action somehow was a "backroom deal" did not shine a good light on his political ear, either. Wouldn't it be funny if somehow that decision ends up backfiring on McCain?
-- Who'd have thunk that Huckabee would emerge from today still viable? And what we just saw was a man emerging as the no-brainer #2 on McCain's ticket--although I think that sets up a fun decision between him and McCain regarding illegal immigration.
-- I'm watching Hillary's speech right now, and I can't help but smile. The GOP should be able to trounce her easily. She's still running against Bush, when I think it's pretty obvious that McCain is going to run against Bush, too. As I wrote earlier, the only way the looming disaster for conservatism could not ruin my mood was if Hillary held the edge on the Dem side--which it appears that she did. There's still a lot of dust to be settled on the left side of the aisle, but tonight at least it looks to be good for Hillary. . .and that makes me feel better.
-- A lot has been made of McCain's relative weakness in his home state of Arizona. Well, Romney only won Massachusetts by 10%, too, and I'm sure McCain didn't spend too much time campaigning there. In fact, the only GOP candidate that really fared well in his homestate is Huckabee in Arkansas.
-- I like the talk forwarded by Huckabee that it's a two-man race--and one of them is him. I would honestly give that some credibility IF McCain wins California. If Romney wins CA, he's still the second dog--although as Bill Kristol pointed out on Fox, Romney's weakness in the South is very very troubling. You know, I've watched Huckabee speak 3 times now. . .I could get behind him. I think he's a little populist economically and a little green on foreign policy--but those are things that can be fixed with solid staff decisions. HE is someone who appears genuine and good-natured, and that is sorely missing in the other two candidates.
-- And that makes me want to take a pause here and look at some REALLY IMPORTANT albeit small races. I don't want to talk about CA, the only purpose of which is to potentially keep Romney's campaign afloat--that will be a blue state come November. All of Huckabee's already-stated wins came in states that will likely vote for the GOP candidate, too. Let's talk about some of the "battleground" states in November: Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota. It's still too early to call CO and MN, and MO is too close to call, but if Romney fares well in all three states--and returns thus far look encouraging--well, combined with his victory in Michigan, THAT is a reason to hope he finds a way to get to the convention.
More to follow. . .
-- First of all, whoever made the call for McCain's people to get behind Huckabee in West Virginia made possibly the smartest call of the day. Romney's complaining--via a surrogate--that this action somehow was a "backroom deal" did not shine a good light on his political ear, either. Wouldn't it be funny if somehow that decision ends up backfiring on McCain?
-- Who'd have thunk that Huckabee would emerge from today still viable? And what we just saw was a man emerging as the no-brainer #2 on McCain's ticket--although I think that sets up a fun decision between him and McCain regarding illegal immigration.
-- I'm watching Hillary's speech right now, and I can't help but smile. The GOP should be able to trounce her easily. She's still running against Bush, when I think it's pretty obvious that McCain is going to run against Bush, too. As I wrote earlier, the only way the looming disaster for conservatism could not ruin my mood was if Hillary held the edge on the Dem side--which it appears that she did. There's still a lot of dust to be settled on the left side of the aisle, but tonight at least it looks to be good for Hillary. . .and that makes me feel better.
-- A lot has been made of McCain's relative weakness in his home state of Arizona. Well, Romney only won Massachusetts by 10%, too, and I'm sure McCain didn't spend too much time campaigning there. In fact, the only GOP candidate that really fared well in his homestate is Huckabee in Arkansas.
-- I like the talk forwarded by Huckabee that it's a two-man race--and one of them is him. I would honestly give that some credibility IF McCain wins California. If Romney wins CA, he's still the second dog--although as Bill Kristol pointed out on Fox, Romney's weakness in the South is very very troubling. You know, I've watched Huckabee speak 3 times now. . .I could get behind him. I think he's a little populist economically and a little green on foreign policy--but those are things that can be fixed with solid staff decisions. HE is someone who appears genuine and good-natured, and that is sorely missing in the other two candidates.
-- And that makes me want to take a pause here and look at some REALLY IMPORTANT albeit small races. I don't want to talk about CA, the only purpose of which is to potentially keep Romney's campaign afloat--that will be a blue state come November. All of Huckabee's already-stated wins came in states that will likely vote for the GOP candidate, too. Let's talk about some of the "battleground" states in November: Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota. It's still too early to call CO and MN, and MO is too close to call, but if Romney fares well in all three states--and returns thus far look encouraging--well, combined with his victory in Michigan, THAT is a reason to hope he finds a way to get to the convention.
More to follow. . .
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home