January 29, 2008
Who Let The Dogs Out? Who? Who Who?
When he's not freestyle rapping, Mitt Romney also enjoys running for president of the United States. Tonight, we will find out if the Republican voters of Florida will crown him the candidate to beat going into next Tuesday, or if his chief rival in this state, John McCain, definitively becomes 2008's Comeback Kid.
We kid the former Massachusetts governor, of course, who is poised to win the Florida primary today and put to rest doubts that he can sweep enough Super Tuesday delegates to carry him to the nomination. He shot for and missed winning the nod in the supposedly crucial (but probably not so much anymore) states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which prompted a bunch of fortune tellers to write his WH '08 obit. But Romney doesn't have the best ground game and organization in this field for nothing. Polls put [PDF] him in a dead heat for first with McCain, which could effectively make Feb. 5 a two-man contest.
That is, if potential spoiler Rudy Giuliani doesn't beat expectations. The former NYC mayor is promising he will deliver in spite of the polling numbers. He's crossing his fingers that a lot of the absentee balloting went his way, though it's not clear that would make a difference, our colleagues at Pollster.com say.
For the first time, Giuliani seems to acknowledge that a loss in Florida might be reason to abandon his campaign. "Wednesday morning, we'll make a decision," he told reporters today. Don't count Hizzoner out if he loses and stays in anyway, though. In the Miami Herald's last survey, McCain and Romney were polling at 25 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Those are tiny numbers, which means our mantra still holds: Everyone's support is soft, Republican voters are still fickle and unhappy, and that means anything goes.
Meanwhile, Romney's attacks on McCain continue, and McCain is fighting back hard. Romney's earned a reputation as the least-liked guy of this bunch because of his willingness to criticize his rivals, but as the saying goes, politics ain't beanbag. It's a little disingenuous when politicians boo-hoo that they are being picked on -- particularly when, as in McCain's case, they are volleying back in kind but online, instead of on air.
Oh yeah: There's a Democratic primary in Florida, too. But it doesn't matter. For now.
We'll be covering the results either way. Check back at around 7 p.m. 8 p.m., when all the polls will be closed.
Posted at 5:43 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Democrats, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, WH 2008
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