This is good news. It’s somewhat surprising that even with strong support from Anuzis, the Romney folks were outmaneuvered. Could this be an omen of things to come?
BTW, according to this poll, Romney has 81% name recognition in Michigan (higher than any state, besides MA), yet is still in third place by a significant margin.
McCain didn’t lose the State Chair battle to Romney at all. Saul wanted to close the Michigan primary, so McCain supported Dave DiShaw to challenge him. Saul realized that he would most likely be beaten by DiShaw, so he backed down and agreed to keep the Michigan primary open. Thus, DiShaw withdraw from the race and let Saul run unopposed.
He ran unopposed because no one thought they could beat him. Do you really think McCain didn’t run someone against they knew could win when they had the opportunity. That’s a joke.
Kavon,
It should also be noted of the 5 election 4 of the 5 were uncontested by McCAin people and Romney won. McCain just put his eggs in the basket of the guy who he thought could win, and he won by 8 votes. I heard that he Romney supporters out numbered McCain supporters by 2 to 1 at the conferance. Romney’s hometown advantage did materialize. You are just reporting on the 1 race he lst (by 8 votes and making it look ie the whole night was like that, truely not the case.
“I heard that he Romney supporters out numbered McCain supporters by 2 to 1 at the conference.”
That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. LJ is the only grassroots McCainiac that I’ve ever met personally, and if you’ve read this blog for sometime you know that I have been all over the place in the past year researching this race.
As far as the dynamics of the McCain vs. Romney in MI arguments:
-”we had more supporters”
-”no, we had more supporters”
-”Anuzis would have beaten anyone”
-”No, he capitulated to McCain”
I am just reporting on a first hand report that I have received. It’s up to you guys to decide who you want to believe and you are completely free to present your side of things. After all, that is what this blog is for.
Do you really think McCain didn’t run someone against they knew could win when they had the opportunity.
Here’s how the Hotline described what happened back in November:
There’s a good chance that Saul Anuzis will be re-elected as chair of the Michigan Republican Party. And despite misgivings, Sen. John McCain’s team in the state will be happy.
Anuzis, the current chair, had been targeted for ouster by forces aligned with RNC nat’l committeeman Chuck Yob, who supports the candidacy of 3rd District GOP chair Dave DiShaw. Broadening out the picture, Anuzis is viewed as biased in favor of Gov. Mitt Romney by McCain’s supporters like Yob.
What began as a power play (or maybe, just another iteration of the McCain/Romney proxy fight) quickly turned into a rehash of historical grievances, circular firing squads, and even a heated debate about race and diversity.
It may have ended yesterday with two developments. Anuzis, in a letter, endorsed a semi-open primary. That’s a big concession to the McCain forces. And a key McCain ally endorsed Anuzis. That’s a big blow to DiShaw’s candidacy. He may soon withdraw.
So we can sum up that once Anuzis conceded to having an open primary, the entire raison dêtre of DiShaw’s candidacy was gone and all the other McCain allies in the state had no reason not to endorse Anuzis.
It was, as Hotline said, a win/win. McCain’s folks got their open primary (it greatly increases the chances of a McCain victory in the state) and the Romney folks got to keep a sympathetic and powerful state chairman on their side.
Kavon,
LJ is the only grassroots McCainiac that I’ve ever met personally
Actually, McCainiacs are everywhere. You just need the special Straight Talk Glasses in order to see all of us.
In all seriousness, it’s no secret that McCain has pretty dismal online support among bloggers. But I know lots of McCain supporters here in Wisconsin. It strikes me that McCain’s support is a lot like Hillary Clinton’s. She’s hated among a significant portion of the left blogosphere, yet in reality, she dominates polls among actual people. Likewise, if you judged by stuff you read on Redstate or Free Republic, you’d be amazed that McCain had any supporters at all, let alone 25%-30% of the Republican electorate.
That’s a rosy sum up. Your summary neglects some other points:
1. Why in the world would McCain not want one of their guys as State Chair going into 08 campaigning? All they care a out is is is the semi-open primary (which really doesn’t give McCain too much of an advantage) and nothing else? If McCain could have had someone in there as state chair he would have. Don’t tell me he really thought that having a supporter as Youth Chair was key to his survival. The fact that he pulled out meant he had no support, I am sure he wanted the job.
2. It totally neglects that Romney’s supporters ran 4/5 races at the convention uncontested. Is this because McCain’s people were so strong and didn’t want to rub it in Romney’s face? I doubt it. Romney basically ran the MI convention.
Kavon,
Don’t get me wrong, I know your opinions and leanings,and this is at the top of my sites to visit. My point was that your post was that you made it sound as if Romney had the groung swept by McCain and the fact that McCain couldn’t even compete in 4 out of 5 races was not even mentioned, which would probably be a better indicator than a close vote for Youth Chair. If there was a hypothetical election between Repubs and Dems and 4 of them went uncontested by Dems and the fifth race Dems won by 8 votes, we would all be celebrating, calling it a consisive victory. So why are people spinning this for McCAin?
Why in the world would McCain not want one of their guys as State Chair going into 08 campaigning?
Because all McCain wanted was to keep the primary open. Saul Anuzis is a very popular and effective state chair and once he conceded on the primary issue, most of McCain’s in state allies had no reason not to endorse Anuzis. Even if McCain wanted to push DiShaw’s candidacy harder, it would’ve been impossible. So yes, he pulled out because he had (virtually) no support after Anuzis changed his stance. Had he decided to keep the primary closed, it’s very likely that he would’ve been beaten.
McCain is not happy to have a state chair be a Romney supporter, he would much rather have had his guy there.
Oh, I’m sure he would rather have his guy there as well. But in politics, you can’t always get everything you want. Having a semi-open primary is the next best thing.
The quasi-open primary is not going to benefit McCain like you and others seem to promote.
Sure, it will. McCain’s traditional base of support are independents and moderates. In a closed primary, indies wouldn’t be allowed to vote, whereas they would be under the new rules that Anuzis agreed to. McCain beat Bush in 2000 in Michigan because of them. He stands a very good chance of repeating that performance in 2008.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
[...] post by Kavon W. Nikrad and software by Elliott [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Well I would rather loose this one than McCain’s lost battle to Romney over State Chair Saul A.
Youth chair? Give me a break.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
This is good news. It’s somewhat surprising that even with strong support from Anuzis, the Romney folks were outmaneuvered. Could this be an omen of things to come?
BTW, according to this poll, Romney has 81% name recognition in Michigan (higher than any state, besides MA), yet is still in third place by a significant margin.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
So McCain and Rudy have 97% name recognition and Romney has 81%. That’s not too much of a disparity for how early it is.
Looks like Romney has the highest undecided percentage at 32%. So he has an opportunity to define himself yet.
Of course, that also means that Romney’s opponents have the opportunity to define him as well.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Jason,
McCain didn’t lose the State Chair battle to Romney at all. Saul wanted to close the Michigan primary, so McCain supported Dave DiShaw to challenge him. Saul realized that he would most likely be beaten by DiShaw, so he backed down and agreed to keep the Michigan primary open. Thus, DiShaw withdraw from the race and let Saul run unopposed.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:10 am
LJ,
I guess it’s all in how you want to see it.
He ran unopposed because no one thought they could beat him. Do you really think McCain didn’t run someone against they knew could win when they had the opportunity. That’s a joke.
Kavon,
It should also be noted of the 5 election 4 of the 5 were uncontested by McCAin people and Romney won. McCain just put his eggs in the basket of the guy who he thought could win, and he won by 8 votes. I heard that he Romney supporters out numbered McCain supporters by 2 to 1 at the conferance. Romney’s hometown advantage did materialize. You are just reporting on the 1 race he lst (by 8 votes and making it look ie the whole night was like that, truely not the case.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Here’s probably a more fair assesment of the convention:
http://www.mymanmitt.com/mitt-romney/2007/02/michigan-republican-party-convention.asp
February 11th, 2007 at 2:36 am
“I heard that he Romney supporters out numbered McCain supporters by 2 to 1 at the conference.”
That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. LJ is the only grassroots McCainiac that I’ve ever met personally, and if you’ve read this blog for sometime you know that I have been all over the place in the past year researching this race.
As far as the dynamics of the McCain vs. Romney in MI arguments:
-”we had more supporters”
-”no, we had more supporters”
-”Anuzis would have beaten anyone”
-”No, he capitulated to McCain”
I am just reporting on a first hand report that I have received. It’s up to you guys to decide who you want to believe and you are completely free to present your side of things. After all, that is what this blog is for.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:14 am
Jason,
Do you really think McCain didn’t run someone against they knew could win when they had the opportunity.
Here’s how the Hotline described what happened back in November:
So we can sum up that once Anuzis conceded to having an open primary, the entire raison dêtre of DiShaw’s candidacy was gone and all the other McCain allies in the state had no reason not to endorse Anuzis.
It was, as Hotline said, a win/win. McCain’s folks got their open primary (it greatly increases the chances of a McCain victory in the state) and the Romney folks got to keep a sympathetic and powerful state chairman on their side.
Kavon,
LJ is the only grassroots McCainiac that I’ve ever met personally
Actually, McCainiacs are everywhere. You just need the special Straight Talk Glasses in order to see all of us.
In all seriousness, it’s no secret that McCain has pretty dismal online support among bloggers. But I know lots of McCain supporters here in Wisconsin. It strikes me that McCain’s support is a lot like Hillary Clinton’s. She’s hated among a significant portion of the left blogosphere, yet in reality, she dominates polls among actual people. Likewise, if you judged by stuff you read on Redstate or Free Republic, you’d be amazed that McCain had any supporters at all, let alone 25%-30% of the Republican electorate.
February 11th, 2007 at 7:10 am
LJ,
That’s a rosy sum up. Your summary neglects some other points:
1. Why in the world would McCain not want one of their guys as State Chair going into 08 campaigning? All they care a out is is is the semi-open primary (which really doesn’t give McCain too much of an advantage) and nothing else? If McCain could have had someone in there as state chair he would have. Don’t tell me he really thought that having a supporter as Youth Chair was key to his survival. The fact that he pulled out meant he had no support, I am sure he wanted the job.
2. It totally neglects that Romney’s supporters ran 4/5 races at the convention uncontested. Is this because McCain’s people were so strong and didn’t want to rub it in Romney’s face? I doubt it. Romney basically ran the MI convention.
Kavon,
Don’t get me wrong, I know your opinions and leanings,and this is at the top of my sites to visit. My point was that your post was that you made it sound as if Romney had the groung swept by McCain and the fact that McCain couldn’t even compete in 4 out of 5 races was not even mentioned, which would probably be a better indicator than a close vote for Youth Chair. If there was a hypothetical election between Repubs and Dems and 4 of them went uncontested by Dems and the fifth race Dems won by 8 votes, we would all be celebrating, calling it a consisive victory. So why are people spinning this for McCAin?
February 11th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Jason,
Why in the world would McCain not want one of their guys as State Chair going into 08 campaigning?
Because all McCain wanted was to keep the primary open. Saul Anuzis is a very popular and effective state chair and once he conceded on the primary issue, most of McCain’s in state allies had no reason not to endorse Anuzis. Even if McCain wanted to push DiShaw’s candidacy harder, it would’ve been impossible. So yes, he pulled out because he had (virtually) no support after Anuzis changed his stance. Had he decided to keep the primary closed, it’s very likely that he would’ve been beaten.
February 11th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
LJ,
McCain is not happy to have a state chair be a Romney supporter, he would much rather have had his guy there.
The quasi-open primary is not going to benifit McCain like you and others seem to promote.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Jason,
McCain is not happy to have a state chair be a Romney supporter, he would much rather have had his guy there.
Oh, I’m sure he would rather have his guy there as well. But in politics, you can’t always get everything you want. Having a semi-open primary is the next best thing.
The quasi-open primary is not going to benefit McCain like you and others seem to promote.
Sure, it will. McCain’s traditional base of support are independents and moderates. In a closed primary, indies wouldn’t be allowed to vote, whereas they would be under the new rules that Anuzis agreed to. McCain beat Bush in 2000 in Michigan because of them. He stands a very good chance of repeating that performance in 2008.