I can't recall a presidential nomination race in which one candidate was, by consensus, the eventual nominee, but was still having such trouble winning primaries. My recollection of previous races is that resistance to the overwhelming delegate leader fades quickly, and by the time they clinch the nomination, it's pretty much a formality. And yet this year we see John McCain fighting for every inch of ground in what should be his victory lap. He lost two races to Huckabee over the weekend, and we're still not sure what happened in Washington state, since the state GOP chair called it in McCain's favor before the votes were counted. Hey, it's not what you know...McCain did better today in Virginia, beating Huckabee by a comfortable nine points. Of course, polls just last week had McCain up by 30 over Huckabee in Virginia, so those nine points weren't all that comfortable.
McCain will breath a major sigh of relief when he finally reaches 1,191 delegates. And when he does, will that resolve all the problems? There will still be a substantial chunk of the party that despises him and does not want him as the nominee. Do they suck it up and vote for him? Stay home and let the Democrat win? Or go find another candidate for a third party run?
No comments:
Post a Comment