Michigan One Step Closer to 1/15 Date
August 31st, 2007 Posted in Michigan
With the best news I’ve heard all week, Michigan’s lower chamber approved the 1/15 primary. Their upper chamber already did so over a week ago. Gov. Granholm is enthusistically endorsing the move. The table could hardly be set up better for Gov. Romney. Strong leads in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Now the most obtainable big state will come in the immediate aftermath of the early states.
Ladies and gentlemen. Gov. Romney is now officially the frontrunner.
~~~Thomas
Edit: Townhall has an article on how this shifts the GOP nomination process.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Voting pro-life in Michigan.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:02 pm
If you’re surmising again, Nate E, that Romney is not pro-life and that’s why your voting for someone else I won’t have it. Romney is firmly pro-life and for you to say that he is pro-choice is purely a lie. He had been in the past, but that does not make him pro-choice now.
Let’s be clear on one thing: even if he had been pro-choice his whole life, the actual reason you won’t vote for him is because he belongs to a group that you consider to be a cult. That’s shallow and narrow-minded.
Romney is going to win Michigan with or with out you anyways.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I wouldn’t go that far and conclude Nate is not supporting Romney in that statement. I think he wants to get to know Romney and his positions which have indeed been shifting. But the fact he posted here shows some interest, whether good or bad, so I think concluding he is not supporting Romney due to his Mormonism is amazing. The biggest issue Romney must overcome is not his Mormonism, which is a major one, but his authenticity. I think it is legitimate to question his stance on abortion, guns, and health care. What are Romney’s real beliefs on these issues? Is he taking certain positions to pander to GOP voters to gain the nomination, only to sell us conservatives up the river once he becomes president? Legitimate to ask, since he claims he did the same to voters in Massachusetts (at least on being prolife)!
Anyhow I wanted to talk about Michigan and the impact of its move in the calendar. Romney has a decision to make whether he will devote resources in South Carolina to improve his numbers there and dislodge the socially liberal Giuliaini from the top two in the polls or does he invest in Michigan and his golden name up there courtesy of his father, to carry him momentously into South Carolina having potentially 4 wins under his belt (IA, NH, NV, and MI)? I think Michigan moving up in the process steals some thunder from South Carolina, but does invite Giuliani to deploy major resources there to gain a win earlier than he would had Michigan not moved up (big state strategy). Also how does Michigan’s move affect Romney’s resource deployment in Florida? I think this is where Romney’s personal assets are indispensable and I think that there will be great pressure on the other candidates to fund raise and belies Thompson’s assertion that his late entry is nothing more than how things have always been (the primary is certainly not how things use to be). I think Michigan’s move hurts Thompson, because he doesn’t have nearly the resources to contend in Iowa, South Carolina, Michigan, and Florida. So he has to pick and choose his battles, which bolds well for Romney if Thompson decides against challenging Romney in Iowa. Nonetheless nothing is a given in this cycle and Michigan is certainly not a given for Romney because his father was the governor there 40 years ago. But Romney has shown over and over throughout this campaign that he is not taking anything for granted and has to date, with few exceptions, run a well oiled, discipline campaign. It’s been fun to watch.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Steven:
Nate’s a Brownback supporter. He said in an earlier post that Romney’s pro-choice and part of a cult.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:08 pm
As to your thoughts on Michigan:
This might sound strange, but I think that the Giuliani and Thompson campaign might just conceed it to Romney too. Each of them seems more interested in setting up a firewall (Thompson in S. Carolina and Giuliani in Florida) than in competing where it’s difficult. And Michigan is not going to be easy for either of them to compete in given Romney’s natural advantages there.
Romney already has an infrastructure set up in the state. So a redeployment of resources comes down more to money than anything else. And Gov. Romney’s got plenty of that.
September 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I don’t think Giuliani can afford to concede Michigan and with the poll numbers you sighted earlier, he is well within reach of winning the state. Competing in Michigan is a requirement of Giuliani’s big state strategy and though has an organizational and financial advantage, Giuliani’s name recognition and his financial resources can help in a swing state like Michigan. I think you will begin to see Giuliani really start to take the gloves off because of these developments, since a Michigan win for Romney will smash that strategy to smithereens.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:19 pm
There is a perfict storm that is playing to Mitt’s natural advantages, Michigan & Wyoming are just part of it.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I would put Wyoming in the Thompson category, though I am not aware if there is a significant Mormon population in Wyoming.