http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-02-07-romney-fallout_N.htm

 

Romney's record as governor of liberal Massachusetts and his Mormon faith made some in the party uneasy. "Social conservatives didn't look on him as a true believer," says Peter Ubertaccio, a political scientist at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. "Those people had a much higher comfort level with (former Arkansas Gov. Mike) Huckabee."

 

West Virginia GOP convention delegate Brian Bigelow said on Tuesday he would support "whoever can defeat Mitt Romney. I don't believe that Bible-believing Christians should take part in the mainstreaming of Mormonism."

 

I think Huckabee called it when he said that people prefer somebody that looked like someone they worked with rather than the person that laid them off.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGQ4MGM5MGVmZDE3Y2Q0MzA4Y2E0ZjE5ZTIyMTQ0OGM=

 

Just before the Iowa caucuses, I was at a corporate headquarters outside Des Moines, asking a few questions of Eric Fehrnstrom, the press secretary who usually traveled with Romney. Fehrnstrom looked at Mike Huckabee’s campaign and saw a ragtag lot. “We’re going up against a loose confederation of fair taxers, and home schoolers, and Bible study members, and so this will be a test to see who can generate the most bodies on caucus day,” Fehrnstrom said.

 

I interrupted for a moment. “Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those groups?” I asked.

 

“Not that there’s anything wrong, but that’s just a fact,” Fehrnstrom continued. “That’s just where he has found his support. I have a theory about why Mike Huckabee holds public events in Iowa like getting a haircut or going jogging, or actually leaving Iowa and going to California to appear on the Jay Leno show. It’s because he doesn’t have the infrastructure to plan events for him. And when he does do events in Iowa, he goes to the Pizza Ranch, where you have a built-in crowd, so you don’t have to make calls to turn people out. We’re very proud of the organization we have built in Iowa.”

 

They had reason to be proud; it was a good organization. But in a bigger sense, they just didn’t understand what was going on. Fehrnstrom, like his boss, placed a lot of faith in Romney, Inc. How could a bunch of seat-of-the-pantsers like the Huckabee campaign possibly beat the Romney machine? Well, they could, in Iowa, and McCain could in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and then in Florida and on Super Tuesday. The race was never about the imposing infrastructure Romney had built. It was about that ineffable something that voters look for in candidates. With Huckabee, some of those voters saw an intriguing and refreshing figure. With McCain, a larger number saw someone who wanted, above all, to defend the United States. And with Romney — well, they didn’t quite know what to think.

Of course BGP readers already knew this because us Huckabee supporters had been telling you it for weeks.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2008/02/the_romney_campaign_rip.html

 

I think the fact that Romney was viewed so poorly by McCain and Huckabee voters, but not Giuliani voters is a consequence of his attacks on McCain and Huckabee. I see no other plausible way to explain this pattern - especially in light of the fact that Romney worked for most of 2007 to woo the social conservatives who comprise Huckabee's base. Why else would the first two sets of voters dislike him, but the third like him?

 

These low ratings may have done electoral damage to Romney. First, consider Huckabee voters. As Huckabee's prospects declined, we would expect some of his supporters to switch to other candidates. Indeed, Huckabee has fallen about four points in the last month. Romney's negative numbers among Huckabee voters implies that if they were going to leave Huckabee, they would probably not go to Romney. Instead, they would probably go to McCain - who enjoys strong positive numbers among Huckabee voters. Minimally, this should dispel the notion that Huckabee's decision to stay in the race hurt Romney. If anything, it probably helped him.

I agree that Romney could have been better at connecting with voters but Huckabee has not done as well. Huckabee's appeal outside of evangelical Christians, mostly in the south, is very, very limited. Few of Romney's supporters will rally behaind Huckabee because most realize that his chances of winning are just a little above zero.

 

When will Huckabee acknowledge his defeat and allow McCain to focus on uniting the the Republican Party in preparation of the general campaign?

I agree that Romney could have been better at connecting with voters but Huckabee has not done as well. Huckabee's appeal outside of evangelical Christians, mostly in the south, is very, very limited. Few of Romney's supporters will rally behaind Huckabee because most realize that his chances of winning are just a little above zero.

 

When will Huckabee acknowledge his defeat and allow McCain to focus on uniting the the Republican Party in preparation of the general campaign?

 

I was thinking last night, not sure it will happen.

 

What might happen is that you see the two of them continuing campaigning no real shots at each other but both of them continually taking shots at the Dems.

 

Why? Because if it is ONLY McCain out there then the Rep message is on the nightly news ONCE while the Dems message is on the double the time. ONce for Obama and once for Hillary. With Huckabee still out there, the message is getting out closer to the time that the Dems are getting.

 

If Huckabee stays away from attacking McCain but rather campaigning on positives of the Republican message, they might want him to stay awhile.

 

I read an article today that said that one of the reasons why HIllary's camp likes Bill out and about is this reason. The media WILL cover him and that 1) gives her message more time; 2) is time that they are not devoting to covering Obama.

How scary is it that Ron Paul has lasted until the final three :eek: :lol:

Irrespective of anything else, Romney just comes across as a jerk. That might have something to do with his "inability to connect."

This thing is going to come down to McCain and Hillary (Super Delegates anyone??), as sad as that is. In a country of over 300 million people, why is this the only choices we have? Unbelievable!

Irrespective of anything else, Romney just comes across as a jerk. That might have something to do with his "inability to connect."

 

I think that goes back to Huckabee's comment from early in the year. People prefer someone that comes across as a person that would work with rather than the person that laid them off.

Irrespective of anything else, Romney just comes across as a jerk. That might have something to do with his "inability to connect."

I watched quite a few of the debates and I believe that Romney was the least "jerky" and most likable of the candidates. If being a jerk were a big factor in the primaries, McCain would have bowed out early.. In fact, he would have never been a viable candidate in the first place.

I think that goes back to Huckabee's comment from early in the year. People prefer someone that comes across as a person that would work with rather than the person that laid them off.

That coment was one of several that turned me against Huckabee. It is obvious that both McCain and Huckabee resent Romney's success in business. Playing the class card in presidential politics is almost as dispicable as playing the race card, IMO.

 

I know that the tactic worked for Lenin, Castro, Mao, and Chavez, but do we really want our presidential candidates gaining office by taking cheap shots at those who have not spent their lives drawing checks funded by taxes and donations? Having never been laid off, Romney reminds me of the guys that have given me my jobs and signed all of my paychecks.

My initial reaction to Mitt, on the first debate I watched, was "I could never support this guy". He just looks like he was full of himself.

 

Slowly, as I delved more into politics, I noticed the others candidates were disappointing me on the issues, and once Fred Thompson dropped out, I had to go for Mitt. And then he dropped, so now I don't know what to do. I guess Romney didn't connect with me, but everyone else simply disconnected from me

Just some of my thoughts on all this...

 

I think there is also a lot of jealousy of his personal success.

 

The religion thing blows my mind. Bringing up what church he belongs to while running for president, tells me a lot of how narrow minded people can be. (all of sudden the country has tons of non-mormon experts on the religion!). That should make everyone weary; if people don't like what church you belong to, they attack you and your religion? Very not American!

 

I thought he came across as good person in the debates.

 

I guess we will just have to see what we end up with after the elections are all said and done- Romney will look really good to all of us come 2012.

God forbid that we have a president who actually looks and acts presidential.

God forbid that we have a president who actually looks and acts presidential.

Mitt has nearly four years to learn to play a cool musical instrument and maybe come up with a stand-up routine.