The big news out of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference was the results of the straw poll, where Mitt Romney edged out Ron Paul and Sarah Palin bested Newt Gingrich for third place.
Romney’s trying his best to follow Reagan’s course of losing a primary but winning it all four years later. So far, he looks like all he’s doing is following Steve Forbes’ course of losing a primary and losing another one four years later.
If all he can do with all those dollars and endorsements is squeak past Ron Paul, who has a history of running against a Republican Presidential nominee, then turn out the lights, Mitt. The party’s over.
It’s probably over for Sarah Palin, who wows the crowds but has been ravaged by sexist Democrats and chauvinist media to gain any momentum that would last beyond Iowa. And Newt? Love him, but there’s a problem with all these folks.
If anyone hasn’t figured out that the 2012 Republican nomination battle is going to be won by someone who hasn’t run for it before and is barely known by the nation, I sure have.
The three times Democrats have won in the past 40 years, they nominated someone completely new to the national stage. Each time they beat Washington careerists.
We didn’t beat Clinton by nominating Dole and running a “let’s go back to yesterday” campaign. We’re not going to beat Obama by nominating folks the public has already passed on.
New faces, new ideas, new approaches. I don’t want to have another “I’ve been in Washington for 30 years, and I’m the candidate of change” campaign.
The question is who…