Webloggin » McCain Loses in Michigan, Romney Wins

Romney takes much needed win in Michigan

Senator John McCain didn’t take the win that the mainstream media was hoping for, and in many cases pushing us toward. McCain is spinning the loss as “still fighting” but its apparent that the Senator that Republicans love to dislike couldn’t manage to muster enough independents or democrat sympathizers in an open primary state to come close to Romney. This despite the fact that McCain hasn’t been getting a lot of negative press, from the mainstream media or even campaign rivals for that matter.

This outcome has me once again has me questioning the quote “conventional wisdom” of so called experts in the media. Johnathan Martin of the Politico was really off the mark, and as such is quite annoying.

Further, his opponents’ strategic imperatives have freed McCain to concentrate on the kinds of voters most receptive to his message: moderate Republicans, independents and Democrats.

While Huckabee is actively campaigning in this state and threatening to take some of Romney’s vote share among core Republicans, Rudy Giuliani is not contesting the primary — and thus not competing for the same group of moderate voters as McCain. In South Carolina, Thompson is directly taking on Huckabee — McCain’s most serious rival there — and hoping to cut into some of the former Baptist preacher’s evangelical vote. Similarly, Giuliani is nowhere to be found there, ceding the many military retirees and security-minded snowbirds to McCain.

Part of McCain’s advantage in New Hampshire, but also in Michigan and South Carolina, is that these early primaries are all open to unaffiliated and Democratic voters — many of whom are attracted to McCain’s compelling life story and image as a straight-shooting truth-teller.

Even before tomorrow’s primary vote, this facet of McCain’s support is prompting some prebuttal spin.

“If there were just Republicans and independents, I would win Michigan,” Romney said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Democrats also get to vote, so you can’t be 100 percent sure.”

This is indicative of the kind of garbage that the media establishment has been spoon feeding us for weeks. Romney had to release a “prebuttal spin” to counter the misinformation of people like Martin. To be sure Martin was simply opining, as are we all, but I have to seriously question why these people pile on the spin for McCain in a “year of change”. From my point of view the whole line about McCain’s straight-shooting truth-teller image is a bunch of bull. McCain is only as genuine as any career politician. The man opposed Bush’s tax cuts in 2000 and suddenly has found a need to support continuing them, McCain proposed an amnesty path for illegal immigrants but now says it was no such thing and I’m supposed to think he’s a straight shooter?

Worse for McCain is that his straight talker “maverick” label is one that he earned by crossing over the line to the Democrat side. From not drilling for oil in the arctic to the closing of Guantanamo and pandering to the global warming and immigration lobbying groups John McCain takes stands that infuriate conservatives; no wonder the media loves him. If John McCain can’t win in an open primary where crossover votes are his best bet then he has a real problem in states where cross overs are not allowed.

For Romney’s part he won the primary partially on his strength as a successful businessman in a state that has been hard hit economic woes. This is a strength that I expect should go over well nationally.

Mr. Romney, who was born and raised in Michigan, used his final campaign appearances to remind voters of his personal ties to the state, where his father served three terms as governor. He promised, if elected president, to “not rest” until the state’s battered economic fortunes have been restored.

The message appeared to resonate with Republican voters, more than half of whom said in exit polls that their vote was driven by overwhelming economic concerns. A majority of those polled after they voted said a candidate’s position on the economy was more important than the war in Iraq, illegal immigration or terrorism. The exit poll was conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the television networks and the Associated Press.

I personally believe that early reports of votes as a result of Romney’s father have been overplayed by the media. Perhaps this had some nostalgic effect but I am not sure it was a decisive factor. Although Goerge Romney was a three term Governor you have to remember that he was a moderate Republican who last served as that state’s governor in 1969. That’s pretty far back. But then again, politics has a long memory and name recognition is a string ally.

It’s too early to even come close to calling a national front runner after tonights primary. We now have three separate winners in three separate states, and let’s not forget Wyoming. I think this spells real trouble for John McCain because of the lack of crossover voters. In some aspects this is even worse for Huckabee who has shown that he may not be able to get over the hump except with those who identify with him as an Evangelical. Not good.

Side note: On the Democrat side Hillary Clinton yielded nearly 40% of the vote to uncommitted with 86% of the precincts reporting. Pretty bad in a state that maans nothing this year for Democrats. This little fact puts an exclamation point on the stupidity of Daily Kos morons that urged people to vote for Romney. The fact of the matter is that their half assed stunt didn’t stop a whopping 192,000 people from showing up to vote against Hillary Clinton. That number is almost 70,000 votes more than the number who showed up in favor of Huckabee.

Share This Article With Others: