Next President Likely Republican. Romney leads

[Churchmouse]

In a new Rasmussen Poll 53% believe the next President is likely to be a Republican. In the same poll. Romney leads Gingrich in favorability 55% to 45%. This is not the 2012 election, but the next President after Obama.

Romney led last year and got ambushed by McCain and Huckabee in West Virginia. Even after that voters favored him as a running mate for McCain. He chose someone else and we saw what happened. When the economy tanked it may have been a good idea to have an expert on the economy on the ticket.

[Hemidakota]

Hmm...still vote for the lesser evil, whether it is Romney or someone else.

[OtterPop]

If you're hoping for a Mormon in the White House, I think Jon Huntsman, Jr., (Utah's current governor) has a better shot than Mitt. He's an up-and-comer on the national scene, hasn't been all over the political spectrum, and actually comes across as a human being on camera.

I didn't vote for him in 2004, but he and Jim Matheson (the Democratic opponent) ran one of the cleanest races I've never seen. They committed to no negative campaigning and stuck to it.

I usually vote straight Democrat, but I voted for Huntsman in 2008. He's been an excellent governor, and I wouldn't rule out voting for him for president, either.

[Just_A_Guy]

Mitt Romney will never be President of this country.

Huntsman is a nice guy (Scott Matheson, of all people, once introduced me to him), but he represents a nascent Republican effort to out-Democrat the Democrats that, I think, is doomed to failure. Besides, his dad is a reasonably highly-placed member of the Church hierarchy. The objections you saw to Romney's religion will pale in comparison to the anti-Huntsman vitriol that would start coming out.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Just_A_Guy

[john doe]

Silever-Spoon Jonny won't be president, though I hope he resigns as governor to run. He's too liberal to gain wide support from Republicans, as his recent speech cancellations before Michigan Republicans show.

[OtterPop]

The Republicans aren't doing too well these days -- largely because of letting ultraconservatives run the party on social issues. Returning to these particular "roots" is killing the Republicans.

[bytor2112]

The Republicans aren't doing too well these days -- largely because of letting ultraconservatives run the party on social issues. Returning to these particular "roots" is killing the Republicans.

Sorry to disagree. The Republicans are losing ground because they tried to act like Democrats. Big spending and an ever increasing government. If we look at social issues like g/l marriage, we can see that even in a very liberal state like California it was voted down.

[OtterPop]

The Republicans are not "losing ground"; the party is in a shambles because of kowtowing to party factions who are a couple of standard deviations to the right of even the conservative mean.

You think McCain would have lost so badly if he had picked who he actually wanted as his running mate?

Edited April 29, 2009 by OtterPop

[Just_A_Guy]

Which issues?

How is the Republican Party of 2009 more conservative than the Republican Party of 1980 or 1996? What social positions does it embrace now that it did not embrace then?

It strikes me that almost every material difference between the past and present positions of the Republican Party demonstrate a trend to the left: on foreign intervention, on spending, on relative power of federal versus state governments, on health care. On "social positions", they're largely the same as they ever were in the last three decades: distrustful of labor, distrustful of illegal immigrants, anti-abortion, anti-SSM (but increasingly in favor of civil unions), and anti-affirmative action.

[Just_A_Guy]

You think McCain would have lost so badly if he had picked who he actually wanted as his running mate?

Palin was woefully underinformed and generally made a buffoon of herself, but other than having Alaska-secessionist connections how exactly was she an extremist? She wasn't anti-contraception in schools; she was federalist on the issue of abortion . . .

[Guest]

The Republicans aren't doing too well these days -- largely because of letting ultraconservatives run the party on social issues. Returning to these particular "roots" is killing the Republicans.

It is these social issues that got McCain as many votes as he had. Otherwise, he would have gotten what... 10% of the votes at most.

Conservatives aren't voting Republican anymore because the Republican party does not reflect true conservative values - with social issues right in the middle of their conservative ideals - that means, pro-life, anti-ssm, anti-statism, pro-capitalism, pro-military, anti-entitlement, anti-massive-government-spending, pro-low-tax, anti-class-warfare. Bush was not a true conservative. And neither was McCain. Palin was more conservative than McCain and that's why the conservatives were excited to see McCain pick Palin. But, she was picked, not so much for her qualifications to be VP but for her "celebrity impact" which backfired on them since the media was more than willing to make her celebrity status focus on negatives.

[Moksha]

The Republicans aren't doing too well these days -- largely because of letting ultraconservatives run the party on social issues. Returning to these particular "roots" is killing the Republicans.

How did the Mormons get bamboozled by this pernacious form of Republicanism anyway?

[Just_A_Guy]

Can anyone name five ways in which the stances of these "ultraconservatives" materially differ from those of Ronald Reagan.

[Elphaba]

In a new Rasmussen Poll 53% believe the next President is likely to be a Republican. In the same poll. Romney leads Gingrich in favorability 55% to 45%. This is not the 2012 election, but the next President after Obama.

Romney led last year and got ambushed by McCain and Huckabee in West Virginia. Even after that voters favored him as a running mate for McCain. He chose someone else and we saw what happened. When the economy tanked it may have been a good idea to have an expert on the economy on the ticket.

Please provide a link to the item you're referencing, whatever and wherever.

Elphaba