Vote Democratic-vote for Willard Mitt!

I might have more sympathy for the Frontrunner's "outrage" over some Democrats crossing over into Republican primaries in Michigan voting for Rick Santorum if the Frontrunner hadn't done the same thing himself. He voted in 1992 in the Democratic Presidential Primary for Paul Tsongas. Now he says he did it to try and badly influence the Democrats' primary process in 1992. Back then, the Frontrunner was humming a different tune:

Back in the 1990s, he said he voted for Tsongas out of home state pride and because he liked his platform better than Clinton. Either way, Romney is on record saying that it’s fair game for partisans to participate in the primary with their own team’s best interests in mind.

Now, the Frontrunner (or people in his camp) believe that Rick deep-sixed the Frontrunner's so-called "win" in Michigan-you know, the primary where Rick got half the delegates-because Democrats crossed over to vote for Rick in significant numbers (Where are the numbers?). In Mittworld, it is okay for slick-haired sons of politicians who claim to be Republican to vote in Democratic primaries, but it is not okay for his political opponents inside the party to ask for Reagan Democrats to be helpful in defeating the Frontrunner. In short, the Frontrunner thinks it is okay for him to pinch-hit for the other team, but he doesn't think you should be able to if you don't vote for him.

Let me be clear about something: I do not and never have supported crossover voting. I am a Republican, and I vote in Republican primaries only, because I do not believe that it is right for me to tell the other party who they ought to nominate for offices. I have never voted in a Democratic primary of any kind in my life-for that matter, I have never voted for a Democrat in my life. I've met some Democrats and know many who were and are incredibly nice folks and decent human beings, which, considering the current state and wording of the Democratic platform, leaves us to wonder why they would want to be Democrats-but we'll leave that between them and the Lord.

                 "Crossover voting is bad except when I do it!"



The reality is that in many primary states, open primaries are the reality, crossover voting is something that any candidate running in such a primary has to consider-it can work for them or it can work against them, but it will happen. Until primaries close or are replaced with a caucus/convention system universally, it makes sense for any candidate to make sure that the crossover vote is working in their favor.

The Frontrunner would do it, he has before, most recently in Michigan in 2008. So either what's good for the goose is good for the gander, or the Frontrunner preferred voting in the Democratic Primary!

The heat and the fight is on (Yes your vote counts)

The media spin of supposed inevitability of the Frontrunner has already begun after the Frontrunner just barely survived in Michigan last night. A serious look at the map does not show us inevitability, but shows precisely what I predicted here yesterday, a delegate split out of Michigan. Indeed, had it not been for the vote in Oakland County, where the Frontrunner grew up, the Frontrunner would likely not have "won" at all.

Now comes Tennessee's turn, and while polls have consistently shown a lead for Rick Santorum, it is important to remember that the money and power of this State are behind the Frontrunner, and if it appears that the Frontrunner will do badly here, he may rely on Ron Paul to do his dirtywork of undercutting Rick's votes, or perhaps even try and throw the State to Newt Gingrich, not to help Newt, just to hurt Rick.

The political holy war over the next week will be in the State of Ohio. No Republican has ever won the Presidency without carrying Ohio, so it is very important for any potential Republican nominee to show that they are capable of winning there. Failure to do so brings the viability of a candidate into very serious question, so Ohio is a must-win for both Rick Santorum and the Frontrunner. If you think the ads and the blanket campaigning has been a sight to behold here in Tennessee, it will be a hundred times more intense in Ohio over the next seven days.

Former Ohio Lt. Governor, U.S. Senator, and current Attorney General Mike DeWine withdrew his support as a Romney delegate so that he could join Rick's team. (Photo: beta.wosu.org/Mandie Trimble)


Rick has said that he is relying on Washington State (which votes Saturday), Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Ohio to propel him on in the race for the Republican nomination. That makes Tennessee not only important, but a must-win for Rick (not for the Frontrunner), and the opposition knows it. We're in the primary homestretch, and we can win this thing! We can't afford to let up now. Every phone call, every door knocked on, every friend reached out to, every person driven to the polls, every sign, every minute, and every vote matters. After this primary, none of us will ever be able to say "my vote doesn't count."

The Frontrunner uses a tactic from four years ago

The last day of early voting in Tennessee's presidential primary (note: if you have a chance to get out and pick Rick before your local early voting polling station closes tonight, please do so) also happens to be the day of one of the most critical primaries of the season so far-Michigan. This State was supposed to be a "gimmie" for the Frontrunner. He was born and raised there, his father was Governor there, and he is supposed to know the local lingo. This Michigan supporter of the Frontrunner admits, however, that the Frontrunner has been away from Michigan too long for his so-called roots to make much of a difference, even admitting that the younger generation could care less about the Frontrunner's family name.




 The Frontrunner seems to know he has a problem, because he has resorted to a tactic which he first used in 2008-whining like a spoiled rich kid who doesn't get his way. In 2008, Romney whined like a baby whose candy had been taken away after the West Virginia State Republican Convention voted for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee instead of Romney. Instead of congratulating Huckabee like a man, Romney blamed John McCain because the few McCain delegates in West Virginia opted to vote for Huckabee rather than hold up their State's nominating process indefinitely.I discussed the Frontrunner's whiny child persona in this Super Tuesday 2008 podcast with Adam Graham, Ken Marrero, Warner Todd Huston, and John McJunkin. My description begins at 21:05 and ends at 23:26.

One possible scenario being thrown around that could happen in Michigan tonight is a delegate split. Michigan's delegates are awarded by congressional district and there are 14 congressional districts in Michigan. There is some talk that if Rick can take at least seven of those districts, he will walk out of Michigan with half of that State's delegates regardless of the final results.

You can join Rick Santorum's Idaho State coordinator, Adam Graham, along with me (David Oatney, and maybe a few other guests) as we break down the results from Michigan and Arizona in a live podcast beginning at 9:30pm Eastern and 8:30pm Central time tonight. We'll talk about what these results mean for Rick's campaign and where the race for the Republican nomination goes from here.

Willard Mitt can't run from his past

Normally, I wouldn't share my daily Examiner column in this space as a primary source, because this blog exists to help elect Rick Santorum, not to promote my column. However, much has been said within conservative circles in recent days about why the Frontrunner has failed to "close the door" with conservatives among the base of Republican Party. Today, I posited that a big part of the reason is that religious conservatives matter much more than the so called "party establishment" seems to think.

The Frontrunner should not be discounted as a candidate because of his Mormon faith, and to do so would be a profoundly un-American position. However, it is quite reasonable to hold any candidate accountable for their positions based on the tenets of the faith that they profess, and the Frontrunner has shifted positions on social issues repeatedly depending on who his political audience happened to be.


 


This 2008 McCain ad successfully highlighted the problems with the Frontrunner's flip-flops.

It is precisely because so many of us cannot pinpoint where the Frontrunner really stands on almost anything that he is not the wonderboy that so many people at the top of the party heap have spent so much time leading us to believe. Does this look like enthusiasm for a candidate to you?

  This was an address to the Detroit Economic Club and rally for the Frontrunner at Ford Field in Detroit. The Frontrunner's people apparently really believed they could bring in enough people to make the place look full, or at least make it appear as though the voters gave a flying flip. Ego, anyone?

If you want to win the votes of conservative people, it might help if you behave and act as if you are one of them.

Vote for Willard Mitt or you're fired

The Frontrunner's campaign in Michigan truly must be getting desperate. After refusing (as did pretty much the entire GOP presidential field) to participate in a debate moderated by Donald Trump with the understanding that such a forum would be nothing more than a publicity stunt for the Donald and thus a political joke, the Frontrunner was keen to revel in the Donald's endorsement and it wasn't a joke as long as he got the endorsement. Now the Frontrunner is dragging the Donald out for a robocall in Michigan.



I don't know how you, dear reader, would feel if you picked up the telephone to hear Donald Trump tell you about how he's "tired of Rick Santorum," but it would tell me that the Frontrunner can't get any endorsements that actually matter to a Republican. Donald Trump is a man, love him or hate him, who is primarily concerned with his own ratings and popularity, and he couldn't care less whether a Republican is elected in November or whether we are sentenced to four more years of  Barack Hussein Obama, so long as he keeps raking in the cash. One can't blame him for this, but we can say that the welfare of the country isn't as big a concern to him as the portfolio and cash flow of Donald Trump.

The voters of Michigan likely see that as well.