Saturday, January 26, 2008

Let's Talk Politics

Shalaine and I have become quite the political junkies lately. This happens to me whenever the presidential election rolls around, but this year having a horse to pull for makes it that much more interesting. 8 years ago I wasn't all that excited about Bush, but thought Gore was a too much of a robot who we had had in the whitehouse as VP for the previous 8 years. Bush was likeable and conservative so I pulled for him, and ended up really getting into the debates and the race. 2008 is here now and the Bush era is coming to a close. Which brings me to the theme of this year's primaries in both parties. CHANGE. You hear this buzzword constantly in the campaigns of Mitt and Barako. I realized a few months ago that there really is something to be said of change...and it's actually one of the reasons I wasn't a huge fan of Bush originally. If Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, which looks likely right now, and she goes on to win the election something rather dangerous happens. Say she serves 2 terms and is in office till 2016. Our country will have been led by only 2 families since 1992, the Bush's and the Clintons. That's a period of 24 years. When Bush was running in 2000 I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be a good idea to elect a different republican nominee than the son of our last Republican president?" It's like we had King George and then Prince George Jr. And now this year we're looking at the possibility of King Bill and Queen Hill. Fortunately our government is organized to work against any sort of royalty or dictatorial power, but I think it's an interesting observation, and perhaps speaks to a sort of comfort zone that America is afraid to step out of.

Now to this years race. It looks to me like Romney will win Florida. A huge boost to his campaign, making him at least equal with McCain as the front runner. He's had the most momentum over the last week in the poll, passing up McCain in many of them...although McCain still holds a .5 point advantage in the RCP average of all the polls. Realclearpolitics.com has become my new favorite website. Romney clearly won the debate on Thursday night in Florida, andthe results of that win haven't yet shown up on the polls. I think polls that come out on Monday will show Romney ahead by a one or two points, and he will carry that momentum into Tuesdays primary. This makes the race a two man race. Gulianni screwed himself by not participating in the earlier primaries. Huckabust is fading as he's not able to win the support of anyone but those who speak in tongues and play the guitar in church every Sunday. As long as the Economy remains the central issue in this primary, Romney I think will win the nominee. He seems much more comfortable and likable right now, and he's finally portraying Presidential potential whenever he's in debates or interviews. If we have any sort of terrorist attack anywhere in the world, then this will help McCain as terrorism may overtake the economy as the central issue. Anyway, Shalaine and I will be glued to the TV Tuesday evening watching the Florida results come back. My prediction....Romney 31, McCain 27, Gulianni 16, Huck 14.

6 comments:

KatieB said...

Go Romney. A news channel is on at my work at every dental chair. So I too am a political junkie, but not by choice.
-Chad

Al G. said...

Very interesting analysis. We had dinner tonight with a few couples, one guy is the head of HR for the Church. A big job! He was in Europe last week talking to some Saints, and they said they hoped for the churches sake, that Romney doesn't win. He questioned them on it and they said, "Everybody here hates America. Everybody here hates Bush. If Romney wins, they'll have a reason to hate Mormons too." Interesting perspective.

I think that, in spite of what they are saying on the outside, the Mormon thing is still an issue for people. I really hope Mitt wins for the sake of saving our bankrupt nation, but I don't know if he can overcome that. McCain is more democrat than Republican...so if he is the nominee, it'll be two democrats running against each other. That may be good for the Republican party in the long run because it's going to take someone else to come along next time who is a true conservative and re-instate the Republican platform.

Al G. said...

Thanks for pretending we have intellectual conversations in our family. Obviously you're the only one in the family with an advanced degree. I loved your thoughtful commentary...just wish your predictions had proven true tonight but no giving up yet! Love you guys!
Mom (who may someday even have her own account on this blog. Haven't had the patience to do it yet!)

Jordan P said...

The other night I had a dream that Mitt and I were best friends, and we were sharing a sausage mcmuffin and looking through People Magazine together. He wanted to make sure his hair and posture looked good in all his pictures.
P.S. I a little bit resent that advanced degree comment. Just for that I'm going back to school so mom and dad can think I'm smart too.

Cort said...

We'll unfortuately my predictions didn't ring true. McCain got the endorsements of a congressman and senator that were both well respected in Florida and that proved to be the boost he needed to hold off Romney. It looks pretty unlikely now that Romney will be able to pull it off. All of the talk show hosts like Rush, Hannity, Glenn Beck, Dennis Prager all hate McCain and will do all they can to help Romney's cause. Unfortunately, Hackabee is going to stay in the race and take a large chunk of evnagelical votes from Romney making his come back that much more difficult. Hackabee will hope that his love affair with McCain, and his sharing of the conservative vote with Romney will earn him a VP bid with McCain. That allows the McCain/Huckabee ticket to appeal to moderates and conservatives fo the general election.

The Wall Family said...

Hi guys! Love the blog....and this talk. Im really bummed to see people fall into the McCain trap. The media loves him, cause they know hes as much a liberal as Hillary is. They win either way. Its too bad alot of independents and emocrats are voting for McCain......and with Hucklebutt not getting out of the race like he should, hes splitting the conservative vote Romney could win with. He needs to get out! But he can't stand that a Mormon is performing better than he is. My take anyways...........

McCain wins.....we will see Amnesty, spending, deals with Democrats, and no economic plans that will actually make sense and perform. Unreal.