And then there were two…
Either Governor Mitt Romney or Senator McCain will be the Republican nominee.
“It is interesting that the Democrats have split their contests so far and yet the media is not saying that their campaign is over.” —Governor Mitt Romney
On the Republican side we’ve had 7 contests so far and right now it is 3 and 3 with Mike Huckabee taking Iowa. It is very unlikely that Mike Huckabee will get the nomination but he is playing an important role in that his votes would likely go to me if he were to drop from the race. (Governor Huckabee insists he will not drop from the race.)
We are at a crossroads in the Republican Party- We nominated a moderate Jerry Ford in 1976 and got Jimmy Carter and those disastrous years that followed. We have today a Washington insider of 25 years and myself and we bring stark differences to the Republican race. McCain-Feingold was a disaster. Senator McCain was also the author of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill. The senator said on Meet the Press this past weekend that he continues to support that piece of immigration legislation. He supports a 50 cent per gallon tax increase- the McCain-Lieberman bill to fight global warming. These are three pieces of very liberal legislation. If we choose him as the Republican nominee and post him up next to the democrats this fall he will look like a candidate of the past. He will not look like a candidate of the future- a candidate of hope.
Question: Ad buying?-
–We waited because we wanted to see which states looked best for us. We wanted a little time to see where we wanted to focus our efforts.
Question (Ed Morrissey):- What are your strong states on Tuesday?
–It is possible that nothing will be settled on Tuesday. We put a map out and we have a number of states that look good for us including California. Some winner take all states are doing well for us. We have been pleasantly surprised that leading lights in conservatieve movement are coming out for me. Rush Limbaugh and Michael Reagan are going after McCain. Sean Hannity (and Mark Levin’s) endorsements and Laura Engram are important. These will have an impact. Things are close enough that Rasmussen has McCain up by 2 points nationally. I am glad to get the support from talk radio and bloggers.
Question: How could McCain win the economy voters?
–I was surprised that economically driven voters were voting for McCain. People informed on the economy will hear McCain say that this is not his strong suit. McCain talks about punishing Wall Street(?) He doesn’t have an interest in economic issues which is obvious after his 25 years in Washington. An example of this is his global warming legislation that will do nothing for global warming and would hurt our economy.
Question:(Dean Barnett)- What comes after Iraq?
–Afghanistan-Pakistan will be more difficult than Iraq. We have to join more with NATO to come together and crush Al-Qaeda. Senator McCain’s attack on me from last week has been totally discredited.
Governor Romney was catching a plane to Colorada today to start off a very busy weekend.
Captain’s Quarters has more on the conference call.
UPDATE: Rick Santorum and Laura Engraham endorsed Mitt Romney today.
