Marc Ambinder shares a campaign memo that details how the former Governor hopes to make the best out of next Tuesday:
The strategy eschews big states and concentrates on smaller states where the delegate selection processes favor conservatives. They include Colorado, a caucus state, West Virginia, Alaska (which is why Romney mentioned McCain’s support for ANWR drilling last night), and Oklahoma and Georgia, two states where delegates can be extracted from congressional districts.
And it involves, not surprisingly, an direct appeal to conservatives:
The McCain formula for success worked in a divided field when conservatives was fractured, but even a small coalescence of conservatives around Gov. Romney would reveal his support as a coalition too small to win the nomination of the Republican party.
Conservatives, self-identified Republicans, and voters who approve of President Bush are likely to be majorities of the electorate in all of the February 5th states. It is therefore easy to see how we defeat McCain in a two-main race by focusing on traditional Republican primary voters.
We still have an uphill battle in front of us—the mainstream media is ready to anoint John McCain and he will have advantages in many states from running for president for the past eight years— but Gov. Romney has a clear path to victory on February 5th and beyond.
The problem is that there’s a barrier standing in that path by the name of Mike Huckabee. As long as he’s in the race, it’s going to be difficult, if not impossible, for Romney to convincingly turn this into a two-person race with him as the conservative standard bearer. More importantly, there may not be enough time left for him to do anything at all.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I think it is clearly a two-man race, and that the media is making that very clear. I can see Huckabee’s support evaporating as the week progresses, especially as people realize that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain.
But Huckabee is definitely a problem for Romney, and that’s probably the only reason that Huckabee is still in the race. Huckabee -wants- to be a problem for Romney, and is vying to be McCain’s VP.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Mitt Romney is the clear guy smart, conservative know about the economy unlike MCCain. Also Romney is going to have a good day tomorrow. John Mccain is a liberal. Its time for MIke Huckabee to drop out and endorse Mitt Romney. Vote for the true conservative Mitt Romney. Also John MCCain supported John Kerry
February 5th, 2008 at 1:17 am
I hope that Romney will pick up 400-500 delegates and stay in the race. If this is a 50 state campaign, I think Romney wins. And I agree with those who say a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain.