Mitt Romney, locked in a dead heat with John McCain, is likely to benefit from the withdrawal of Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee’s inability to advertise in Florida. With one conservative out and the other hobbled, he is left more or less alone to face a divided moderate vote that will split between Giuliani and McCain.
With Florida having the third largest state delegation and using a winner-take-all formula, a victory here could be major for Romney.
Romney was also smart in anticipating the economy as an issue by his performance in Michigan. What many dismissed as pandering, was, in fact, anticipating an issue and setting it up as his turf.
The second place battle between McCain and Giuliani is, of course, key. If McCain can open up a big gap between himself and Rudy, he can make Super Tuesday into a real two way fight without splitting his vote.
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Comments
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Dick: What are the chances of a Romney/Rice ticket? They would be a marvelous team — far better choice than Thompson or Huckabee!
The only reason that Romney is still in the race is he has a near endless supply of money. If Huckabee and Thompson had that, the race would look far different and they would be winning.
I do not have a problem with Romeny’s wealth. I merely point out that people should not complain about only the wealthy getting elected- we are voting and encouraging that to happen.
A powerful argument can probably be made that McCain, Guiliani and Huckabee did not husband their resources well. McCain, especially, was foolhardy with his funds early on and has no one to blame but himself. Last night he stated how well versed he is in ecomomica…his empty wallet says otherwise.
jb