Rudy famously waited too long in 2008, by skipping Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, assuming he would win big in Florida. He didn’t, because by the time the primaries arrived in Florida, Rudy was an also ran.
Back in July I suggested that Mitt Romney may be hurting himself by allowing others to grab the spotlight and appearing to sit back and wait for others to burn out, How long can Romney wait?
Has Romney’s absence from the public consciousness created a vacuum just waiting to be filled, or was there always going to be a vacuum so long as Romney was in the lead?
The strategy appeared to be working like a charm, until Rick Perry entered the race. Romney’s laid back strategy continued:
It’s not that they don’t take Perry seriously. Rather, Romney’s supporters believe the Bay Stater’s tortoise-like strategy will play to one of his essential strengths — durability over the long haul — and show Republican primary voters that he’s best prepared to go up against a vulnerable incumbent president.
Now that Perry has surged to the lead, has Romney pulled a Rudy and let time pass him by?
Or has Romney been there before, as with Mike Huckabee in 2007, facing someone who will not have electoral legs?
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Interesting question. Perry, however, is no Huckabee. Huckabee’s appeal was always rather narrowly populist whereas Perry is a strong all-around candidate (not my favorite, btw, but that doesn’t change his ability).
The idea that Romney has been playing to his strengths is probably just campaign spin, anyway. In truth, Romney had been trying to game the system by holding back (and avoiding a lot of “Obamneycare” type attacks) until a few more candidates drop out of the race, thinking it would be better to use his money against a few strong candidates.
This strategy almost never works. Politics relies on perception and the perception of not being fully engaged is a killer. Just ask Fred Thompson.
I will not shed a tear for Romney. I can’t think of a single reason to support his candidacy. Not being Barry Soetero is not good enough…
If the only choice I have is to replace one Ruling Class politican with another-ie replacing Obama with either Romney/or Perry then I’m going with Romney because he has all the Big Donor campaign cash to buy votes plus if the Ruling Class wants to oust their other Ruling Class politican then they’ll have to pony up about a billion more.
And the Ruling Class will have to learn how to make campaign calls and get up on Saturday mornings walking door-to-door.
If it comes down to choosing between a Ruling Class Republican candidate and a Ruling Class Republican candidate I’m going with the one with the most money.
This way I won’t have to spend another dime or time GOTV on someone who won’t make a darn bit of difference. I am fed up with handing over tens of thousands of dollars and wasting endless hours campaigning for politicians who will simply re-arrange the deck chairs on the sinking Titanic.
I will show up to vote for ABO, but if it is for just another Ruling Class politician that is as far as I will go.
If Romney is my “choice” I’ll choose to vote for the Constitution Party again. I no longer vote for socialists whether they are the Democrat kind or the Republican kind…
I can recall the professional pundits declaring Rudy Guiliani-America’s Mayor-as the only one who could defeat Hillary Clinton machine
Turns out Rudy never made it out the gate and Clinton was defeated by Obama. And Romney spent $44 million to lose to the candidate who began his campaign broke and had to beg for some La Raza money out in Nevada-and he was a loser campaigner endlessly bashing his own party’s base who handed the Democrats a victory on a silver platter.
Six months from now everything will be nothing like it is today.
Not long ago Presidential campaigns began just after Labor Day yet today in a 24-hour news cycle of perpetual campaign for ratings, they’re declaring in March!
And even in this perpertual state of 24-hour news campaiging for ratings the majority of American population will have NO IDEA who are the candidates and will take the time to find out three weeks before the Nov 2012 election
Up until Perry entered the race, Romney was the only candidate declared that wasn ‘t a regional name or outsider candidate. He doesn’t need name recognition and he showed up at a few debates and neither bombed or set the world on fire. It seems he only ventures out right now to a) take a shot at Obama; or b) take a shot at one of the candidates if he feels they went too far, and he can come out and look the reasonable man and pull the discussion back from the brink. He knows the money will run out eventually on several candidates that are limping along with 1-15% so he’ll let their candidacy die of its own accord..no blood on his hands.
It’s a fine line. When I put my leg on my horse to support alignment of haunches/shoulders and not actually move his haunches over, I think “be there, don’t not be there”. I think Romney is riding that same fine line.
Probably a mistake, but I don’t think Romney would’ve stood a chance against Perry no matter what he did, or what he does from here on out.
Unless Perry implodes, possible but unlikely, he’ll trounce Romney.
Where’s Romney’s base? So far, he’s been living off name recognition. He did well enough last time on the national stage for everyone to know him. He’s had a huge name recognition over all the other candidates this time around, so he’s done well in polls. But, who really wants him?
He poses as the competent alternative, but that only works when the alternatives all suck.
Perry will have Tea Party support, Romney won’t. Perry will have Evangelical support, Romney won’t. Romney’s a Big Govt technocrat in a year where voters are screaming to rein govt in. Worse, he has the Romneycare anchor chained to his neck.
Perry will have Evangelical support
I thought when he doned on the ‘Christian jacket’ made the appearance of a ‘prayer ritual’ just a week or so prior to announcing a Presiential run that he was really just targeting that audience for votes.
Had the Governor performed his National Prayer service without any intention of running for President then I might have accepted his sincerity.
But that National Prayer service was just campaign ploy- and on the cheap.
Anyone not named Obama is better than Romney, but Mitt is no Rudy. Mitt is a creature of the board room. Emphasis on Bored. He comes across about as authentic as Dukakkis in a tank.
He was the one the MSM was anointing as the RNC candidate and he felt that he could just walk to the nomination with a smile on his face and not even try to look like it was an effort.
Then came Perry…
Mitt is history. The honorable thing to do is continue to smile and endorse Rick.
Let’s see how honorable the man is.
The heart and soul of the the GOP is in the South. I don’t suppose we should be surprised if most of the GOP’s stars come from the South for quite some time.
Romney isn’t quite as convincingly conservative as Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, or John McCain. But he does have great hair. However, that isn’t enough to get my vote…
assuming that the various polls that place romney and/or perry at either tying or beating obama have validity, wouldn’t a romney/perry or perry/romney ticket be a safe bet to win the whitehouse?
Rudy didn’t lose because he got a late start. The reason he skipped those earlier states was because he thought a loss would taint him, so he figured he could skip the sure losers and avoid getting the stink of the loser on him. Didn’t work, to say the least. People are not impressed with politicians who avoid a fight just to avoid a loss.
Avoiding a fight will not work for Romney either. If he wants to win, he has to mix it up, and soon.
Nobody’s paying attention but the LSM and political junkies like us. The election season hasn’t fully begun yet. All that happening now is thue thinning of the pack and blah-de-blah over the flavor of the week. The Big Dog hasn’t entered the race yet, and nothing means much until she does.
Now Romney is trying to partially walk back his earlier support for AGW.
This guy does more flips and flops than a fish out of water.
Not at all alike. Rudy was running against McCain who was just dandy with the Republican voters of the kind Rudy might have attracted. Romney may have a moderate past record but he does not have the conspicuously liberal stands on key social issues that marked Rudy as NYC Mayor. Romney has wide and deep financial support which is crucial to staying power in a campaign; Rudy never acquired that. Anyway, Romney is not skipping NH; he is banking on it.
That said, it may be that Perry sweeps all before him. It may also be that he has had a great week or so with a high profile, gobbling up most media attention and taking poll straws away not only from Romney but from Bachmann and others too. It is a long campaign.
Perry is making wrinkles quite sexy again.
A subtle touch up is fine but Biden is taking it to extremes.
In the 60s girls used to iron their hair to straighten it (bangs /fringes were the cutting edge of bravery ) -today older celebs look as if their whole faces have been ironed AND starched.
Yes I am shallow but I was a pol sci major.