Santorum wins in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri

With a good cover of states and the different support he's picking up, is Santorum a likely choice for VP?

Just from my uninformed opinion it looks an obvious tactic. Can pull in the conservative votes that Romney doesn't get and is getting support that the New Englander has not won

Damn you, Permabear, you beat me to it!

It's patently obvious that the GOP base does not like Romney - the question is, will enough GOP voters hold their nose and vote for him given that he has the best chance of beating Obama in November? Romney tends to do well in situations where he can carpet-bomb the airwaves with attack ads - which he would presumably be well-positioned to do in a national election - but he doesn't seem to connect with voters as an individual. If you can't do that with your party's base, how can you reach beyond it? I will be very interested to see what happens in Ohio.

Also, the states in question are kind of weird. Colorado has a huge base of evangelical Christians, but also a strong anti-government element. Minnesota is very civic-minded, and I think there is still a strong New Deal streak amongst some older voters, but the exurbs also have a strongly evangelical population. There are also a lot of independent voters. Missouri is...Missouri.

I don't think there is any way in hell that Santorum is on the national ticket this fall. He is a consumate Washington insider and a social conservative busybody - both are generally anathema to independent voters.

Finally, as a lifelong Democrat, it's been very interesting to see how the GOP struggles with being a 'big tent' party. I think it highlights the problems of being a voter in a winner-take-all two-party system, as opposed to a multi-member district or PR system. The appetite is there for a third (and forth and fifth) party, but the political institutions are not, and given how difficult major reforms are in the American system, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Permabear wrote: »

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The sad thing is, I think that Johnson could ride roughshod over Obama in a general election if he could get past the Republican base, and if Paul wasn't sucking up all of the libertarian-wing oxygen. Hell, I'm a democrat, and other than his fair tax proposal, I don't see much to argue with on his electoral platform. However, I think a lot of folks like myself wouldn't cross over for a GOP moderate in a general election - not because of the candidate themselves, but because of political extremism within the party that the candidate would bring into the White House.

I really don't get what's strategic about aligning with republicans. They have proven time and again their small government mantra only goes as far as their socially conservative values extend.

Will the republican candidatate dare talk about ending big ticket items like Social security, medicare/cade, military spending while campaigning the general?

They end up voting in socially regressive candidates who at the end of the day won't put a dent in the debt and infact will probably be ever more gungho with that military spending and aid...

Do they seriously think the second bailout wouldnt have happened under McCain?

So the democrats are just one big unified group of "tax and spend" liberals?

I question that....

I have tried to follow the debates,primary's,caucuses as much as possible.
it is frustrating at times because of the time difference and lack of good sources.
other than your good selves who post on the US politics forum of course who astonish me with your level of knowledge and well argued points from whatever affiliation you may have.
thank you for that.

i like playing a little game of being completely open minded about the candidates even though i would vote Democrat and support Obama.

Up to now of all the candidates Santorum was the one i could never figure who he would appeal to, that was until i heard a clip of his victory speech yesterday morning on an Irish current affairs show.

possibly the most devastating attack on Obama i have heard from any candidate and very strong words against Romney too.
he vocalised exactly how i and many lost faith in Obama during his second year in office when he seemed way too aloof(the mid-terms changed that imo)

The relavent part of the speech begins just after two minutes into the video.

kev9100 wrote: »

If you want proof of just how awful this field is just look at Santorum. This is a guy who lost re-election in Pennsylvania (a state the GOP needs to win imo) by a huge 17.4%. Ignoring the fact that I think he's a little nuts, how can someone who lost Pennsylvania by such a margin be a genuine contender for the nomination?

I agree if it has to be a Republican the field is awful.
on paper Obama should walk it but the Eurocrisis might throw up any amount of banana skins that could reverse the fragile buds of recovery in the US economy.

Greece will i suppose eventually agree to the bail-out terms,may'be today?.
but it seems Germany and France are willing to let it default at this stage,surely that will trigger an economic tsunami that will have a hugh knock on effect for not only Europe but also the US.
this week it is Greece and it seems next week it could be something or somewhere else.
it is so precarious i would not be putting any $10.000 bets on Obama just yet.

irishh_bob wrote: »

romney will still get the nomination , what i think will prove interesting is that while romney will get lukewarm half hearted support from GOP voters ( who dont see him as pure republican ) as the nominee in november , he will be perfectly acceptable to independants and a good chunk of democratic voters , i cant see thier being that much difference between what a romney presidency would bring and what obama is doing and would continue to deliver , thier both middle of the road people , you could say mc cain was a bit like this in 2008 in that he was a relativley liberal republican but america is in poor shape and obama is generally seen to have underperformed to put it mildly

I can understand independents, but why do you think that Dems will cross over to Romney?

irishh_bob wrote: »

disapointment with obama mainly but also the fact that he ( romney ) isnt particulary idealogical and appears to be a run of the mill politican type

...at the top of a ticket for a party which, from the view across the aisle, appears to have been taken over by crazy people. Being disappointed with Obama doesn't mean that registered Democrats are going to vote for a Republican; the more likely outcome is that a lot of people will just stay home.

irishh_bob wrote: »

no european country is going to default and the euro is not going to fall , thier are too many important players who would get hit ( usa , china ) for that to be allowed to happen , the markets are much less free and chaotic than we are led to believe , add to that the fact that the media potrays every single summit - meeting as D day and you quickly realise that the end result will be some kind of a middle of the road compromise , thier is no appocolypse coming this year or next year for that matter

A slight conspiracy theory by me perhaps, but i think much is going on behind the scenes by all the players you have mentioned to let Greece sink.
of course you know the Greeks have agreed to all today but brought it down to the wire as they have a GE within weeks,France in April.
the Greeks and others are suffering austerity and ridiculous hardship for what in the end will lead to nothing for them.
the sins of the few being paid for by the innocent many.:mad:

suggesting that letting Greece fail is now not being considered and planned for is like suggesting the titanic would not sink no matter how big an iceberg may come its way.

irishh_bob wrote: »

if it waddles like a duck , quacks like a duck , chances are its a duck , greece is defaulting but its been called something else , as for the greeks suffering , most of globes population suffer far worse than the greeks , the powers that be dont care about greek suffering

Why are we arguing when we agree irish_bob?:)

yes poverty is relative and even the poorest of greeks never had to walk thousands of miles for food and water.
i am nervous about going off topic,sometime hopefully we can discuss that on another thread.

cheers!