Dear Super Tuesday

Finally, you're here!  As I sit up tonight, anxiously awaiting your arrival, I have a few things to ask of you.

This year- the biggest Super Tuesday ever (even though I've heard at least three different counts of how many states are going to vote)- your day will count nearly as much as the general election in November.

Although you really don't have any control over this, please keep the main stream media from spinning your results in a manner favorable to John McCain and Hillary Clinton.  On that note, please provide results favorable to Mitt Romney.

My latter request isn't all that far fetched, given the Governor's continuing climb in the polls; in most cases leaving just a narrow gap between him and Sen. McCain.  Now that the conservative base is fired up- perhaps Mitt Romney will be propelled to victory.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, I hope that all of the candidates (except for Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee) have enough sense to continue their primary efforts.  Roughly half of the country should not be able to decide the presidential nominees for the rest of us (some of us live in states like NC who don't get to vote until May 6th).

Sincerely,

Nick

What the Super Bowl means for Mitt Romney

At the beginning of the season nobody gave him much of a chance.  After a few decent performances he showed some potential.  But in the big dance, nobody gave him much of a chance.

No, I'm not talking about Mitt Romney (yet), I'm talking about Eli Manning and the New York Giants.  

Talking with my friend this afternoon before the big game, I likened the Giants to Mitt Romney.  To begin with, both have been matched up against opponents hated by its opponents and vigorously loved by their supporters.  Additionally, Mitt Romney is staring down Super Tuesday the same way Eli Manning had to have stared down New England's defense.

While I have no hard evidence to prove that a win for the Giants assures a win for Romney on Tuesday, I can draw some more comparisons.

What happened to Bill Belichick and his team is exactly what Sen. McCain seemed to be plagued with in last week's debate at the Reagan library: a growing ego and unchecked confidence.  When you believe that you are invincible you also start to act like it: taking pot shots at your oppenent over comments that he clearly never made, going for it on fourth down when you could easily kick a field goal... you get the idea.  Either way, a cocky performance on the part of either Bill Belichick or John McCain can lead to the favorites marching off the field with two seconds left in the game, dissapointed.

What Florida means... to me

Well, I can't say that John McCain's win tonight surprised me.  It certainly did disappoint me.  That sentiment, I'm sure, is shared by a great deal of the GOP.

Unfortunately, tonight's result will probably give the media enough reason to anoint John McCain the Republican pick for president.  Despite that fact, I'm not sure the Republican party will be ready to get behind "Comeback Mac".  Tonight's results only support this fact.

Mitt Romney got second place only about four percentage points behind his rival.  This tells me two things.  That a great deal of Republicans in Florida are split between the two candidates and that John McCain is unable to garner a solid majority of supporters anywhere throughout the country.

Had Mr. McCain's narrow victory been a first in this series of state contests it may have been excusable.  But instead this is his second straight close finish.  What would have happened if Fred Thompson had not been in South Carolina to splinter Mike Huckabee's control of the evangelical vote?  How would Florida's primary turned out if Rudy Giuliani had not spent months in the state- arguably drawing a fair number of voters away from Mitt Romney?

There is no doubt that John McCain is in a good position to do well on Super Tuesday.  If a significant amount of voters throw their support behind him a week from now, then we may be in a position to declare him the front runner.  But tonight all we have is another close election.  In its aftermath lie two factions of the Republican party feuding over the harsh words that have been exchanged in the past week.  John McCain's tough attacks and familiar campaign rhetoric only succeeded in alienating the very people he desperately needs to gain the approval of: actual conservatives.

Was Florida the end all be all that it was predicted to be just this morning?  I say not quite.  Had Mr. McCain's victory come by a margin just slightly larger, or if Mr. Romney had pulled off a victory this evening (he began campaigning here last week as the underdog) one may say otherwise.

Now, until next week, it's just wait and see.