The 2008 presidential campaign of Governor Mitt Romney is running full speed ahead. One report today in the Boston Globe reveals that Governor Romney will run his campaign out of a water-front builiding in Boston. Another report from the Washington Post indicates that the Governor Romney presidential campaign has just hired three national heavyweight talents to head up?their economic policy team. Finally, an article in The Clarion-Ledger reports on Governor Romney mining for support among evangelicals this past Tuesday in the Mississippi Bible Belt.
If there is a more well developed presidential campaign than Governor Romney’s at this juncture in the 2008 cycle, anywhere in the country, in any political party, then it has escaped my attention. If nothing else, Governor Romney’s managerial and planning skills are well in evidence with the impressive 2008 operation he is putting together and deploying.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
It’s funny how many Republican candidates this coming election will be running based out of liberal or heavily purple states: Rudy and (less likely) Pataki out of NY, McCain out of AZ, Romney out of MA, Thompson out of WI, Hunter out of CA, etc.
The possibility for more major color changes to the electoral map are so likely for 2008, it’s going to drive pundits crazy.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
You know that I’m a Romney guy, and while I don’t want to engage in a debate about the liklehood of his nomination again, I’ve got to tip my hat to my man Mitt! His campaign, to me, is as Republius implied: utterly “together.” As Republius also mentioned, his planning skills, managerial experience, and I would add business acumen, are coming in very handily.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
It is interesting how many republican candidates come from blue states, but I don’t think anyone believes that Mitt will flip a single northeastern state, and Rudy won’t flip New York. Thompson would surely take Wisconsin, probably even in the VP slot, but a lot of people seem to think he gets a serious upper hand in Minnesota, and any advantage he’ll have there will be minimal. McCain locks up New Mexico and Arizona, and would have serious appeal to midwestern voters. I can’t really tell how Rudy will play on a national stage, he could be great, or a dud, its too early too tell. I think that Romney is the most eloquent of the major contenders.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
If Hillary is not on the Dem ticket in 2008, I guarantee you Rudy will take NY and flip at least one other northeastern state. As a NH resident, from what I see in the region, while many left-of-center voters who are familiar with Rudy may have a thing against him, they respect him enormously and could very well pull the level for him if faced with a terrible other option like Hillary.
I also think you’re dead-on in regards to the “eloquence” factors. Once the nationally televised primary debates gear up, the charisma/gravitas/speaking ability factor will become powerful, which is why I have such a hard time believing McCain is such a lock for the nomination as the media would have us believe. I don’t know anyone who was in the least bit impressed by McCain’s delivery of that GOPAC speech a couple weeks ago. He has the vocal power of Bill Frist and the posture of Strom Thurmond. He knows how to write speeches, definitely, but gosh is it hard to watch him.
November 29th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
There may be questions of whether Rudy can flip New York, with or without Hillary on the Dem ticket. But he has a great shot at New Jersey, definitely takes my state of PA, could even flip Maryland, and likely brings Virginia back over to our side after this last Senate and Gov. elections. I’m afraid New York seems lost to the Dems no matter who runs, and I doubt the great Abe Lincoln himself could win Massachusetts with an “R” behind his name. I can see Romney, once his “eloquence factor” is seen by the great masses, as a conservative who still appeals to the blue collar Reagan Democrats, meaning PA is definitely in play (the conservative Democrats in the Philly suburbs decide our state’s elections). Maine and New Hampshire are less likely to flip, but of the NE states they seem the only possibilities. Finally, I agree that Thompson has the best chance of flipping the most states, taking a large chunk of the mid-west while keeping nearly all of Bush’s 2004 wins. Of course, this is all contingent on which wing of the Democratic Party wrests control and nominates their candidate.
November 29th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
I think it a smart move on his part. If he is polling behind in Mass it no big deal. howevert if he was to move to Mich and poll behind it would be a bigger deal. By the way AZ is still red.
November 29th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
“If Hillary is not on the Dem ticket in 2008, I guarantee you Rudy will take NY and flip at least one other northeastern state.”
From my personal experience I also agree with this. New Hampshire definitely would go for Rudy, more than a 50-50 chance Maine flips, and New Jersey and New York does come into play. As has been mentioned previously, even though it is not likely Rudy wins blue states like New Jersey, the Dem nominee has to dump valuable cash assets into those states. If Rudy can outspend the Dem nominee 2 to 1 in Ohio because the Dem needs to advertise in NJ and California, in many ways that is as valuable as flipping a blue state.
November 30th, 2006 at 12:31 am
I don’t know anyone who was in the least bit impressed by McCain’s delivery of that GOPAC speech a couple weeks ago.
I thought it was a good speech. If it wasn’t for the shitty connection, I probably would’ve liked it more, but I ended up turning the second half of it off because it was freezing too much.
I’m curious to what you thought about McCain’s GOP Convention speech? Now, I was greatly impressed by that. While the GOPAC one wasn’t his best, he has given absolutely amazing speeches in the past.
November 30th, 2006 at 12:33 am
2000 and 2004 were definitely the exception and not the rule historically, inasmuch as they constitute two successive elections where 47 states voted the same way. I think people are going to be surprised if they expect lightning to strike thrice. Especially considering that no one from the 2000 or 2004 races will be on anyone’s ticket (unless Edwards wins the Dem nod, but even he was on the bottom of the ticket last time).
Rudy would make major, major inroads into the northeast and industrial north/Great Lakes area. He’d bring back into the fold voters from states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania who haven’t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since 1988. I’ve never lived in the northeast, but given what I know of its demographics, he’d likely accomplish the same there. I’d be very surprised if Rudy didn’t take New Jersey and New Hampshire.
It’s not just about making the Democrats play for states like Michigan. It’s about WINNING them again. We lost 19 House seats in the north and northeast alone this year. Conceding that territory is no longer an option.
November 30th, 2006 at 12:34 am
Paul8148,
Mitt is polling behind McCain in Michigan, he’s behind Giuliani there too. He’s also third in New Hampshire despite the fact that he has almost universal name recognition in both those states. That’s bad.
November 30th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Romney’s campaign has just finished building another campaign HQ in Michigan’s Oakland county. He is really counting on Michigan because of how big the Romney family name is here. He has the State GOP chairman on board with his campaign already also.