Posted by
celc2004 on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 2:49:32 PM
That's right,
Mitt Romney took Michigan.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 15 -- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney resoundingly won the Michigan presidential primary Tuesday, seizing his first big victory in the Republican competition and blunting the momentum of his chief rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
Romney's triumph in the state where he was born and where his father served as governor further scrambles a GOP field in which no candidate has been able to win more than one major contest. McCain captured first place in the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8 and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee topped the Iowa field five days earlier.
This is the worst thing possible that could have happened to the party, even worse than Ron Paul taking the unanimous nomination.
In 2004, a strong, incumbent barely beat the Democratic candidate. He had many advantages including a "war chest" of funds, a clear target from the Democratic nomination process, and the fact that he was fresh while the Democrats had been campaigning for months already.
If McCain had taken Michigan we would have a front-runner who could solidify the party and prepare for the even bigger fight coming once a Democratic candidate rises to the top of the current whirlpool. It's going to be a hard fight between Clinton and Obama, not to mention that Edwards isn't giving in just yet.
Now with Romney's win, the GOP won't have the breathing room it may need to fight hard against a strong Democratic party who are pushing hard after the last 8 years under President G.W. Bush.
The fight just got a lot more interesting.