Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who proved that presidential politics is a lousy investment, is poised to endorse Republican front-runner and his one-time rival John McCain, according to the New York Times.This is hardly a shock.
Republicans, with the exception of Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul, are rallying around the Arizona senator who is their party's best hope of keeping the White House. The GOP has a lousy history, though, with Arizona senators running for president. Barry Goldwater was trounced by Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and odds are growing that McCain will get a whooping equal too or potentially worse at the hands of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
Republicans who thought that Romney's experience as a venture capitalist would translate to votes are frustrated that McCain, who is loathed by conservatives, is the presumptive nominee. They ought to vent their anger at Romney who ran a dreadful campaign. He never really explained how he came to abandon all of the positions he held throughout most of the 1990s, including support for abortion rights. Most of the time he just sounded like a pompous ass.
The focus now turns to Huckabee. Baring divine intervention, the former Baptist preacher has no shot of winning the nomination. Unfortunately for McCain, however, he has very little reason to quit campaigning because he is getting support from the conservative base of the GOP that McCain needs.
Look for McCain to offer Huckabee either the vice presidency or some sort of big cabinet position to get him to quit the race. McCain also has to find a way to reach out to Paul. Although Paul hasn't won big at the polls, he has raised a considerable sum from Internet contributors that could fund attack ads against the Arizona senator that could wind up convincing people to vote Democratic.
Freelance journalist Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs
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