The next President?

Mitt Romney just cannot close the deal on the Republican Presidential nomination. Despite having outspent his closest rival Rick Santorum by an amazing ratio of 4:1 in Super Tuesday States, Romney barely won the most important delegate rich Ohio (by a margin of 1%), and did not do enough to cement his position as the candidate to be, losing in Tennessee and Oklahoma and surprisingly in North Dakota.

Make no mistake, Romney is still the front runner in this race as his money bought him enough victories to stay ahead. He is so cash rich that it would not be wise to bet against him, but he is barely beating the most pathetic field of candidates in recent history.

The GOP now has a very serious problem on their hands as they simply do not have a candidate capable of winning in November. Even if Romney wins, his inability to fend off amateurish campaigns from underfunded and underwhelming rivals spells catastrophe against the extraordinary capabilities of the Obama machine. The Democrats have a telegenic super star with one of the best campaign organizations in history. The Republicans have a disingenuous robot incapable of telling the truth from one moment to the next, who, no matter how much money is thrown at him, cannot come out on top.

Rick Santorum is also incapable of winning a general election. He is too extreme for mainstream America, and while he plays well with the angry white males who watch Fox News, he has no chance with sane Republicans, swing voters or independents. They will simply sit the election out, or go with the President.

The GOP head honchos are fully aware of this problem, and must be desperately running through hail Mary contingency plans for when the dust settles. My guess is that it will come down to the Vice Presidential position. Both Romney and Santorum need a balancing partner to fill their gigantic flaws, and the GOP will have to do a damn sight better than Sarah Palin.

If I were a betting man, I’d go with Jeb Bush for Romney (he gets the Bush Sr. conservatives and a lot of the base) and Condoleeza Rice for Santorum (she’s black, and a woman – two categories Santorum has virtually no chance of appealing to by himself). Neither are particularly good choices, but when you look at the rest of the party, there isn’t much else worth talking about.

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Mitt Romney has morphed from the inevitable candidate into a Sisyphean character.

The former Massachusetts governor, with the looks, pedigree and resume tailor-made for a White House run, was forced to push the rock once again up the proverbial hill on Super Tuesday, falling well short of breaking away from the rest of the field.

A squeaker of a win over Rick Santorum in Ohio was, as GOP strategist Alex Castellanos called it on CNN, a “near-death experience” for his campaign. That it was coupled with defeats in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, made it all the more difficult to swallow.

Even some of the wins notched by Romney on Tuesday lacked the flair that would make his night more easily spinable for the operatives he employs. Massachusetts — where with 98 percent of the results Romney was winning 72 percent of the vote — is his home state. Vermont is a neighbor to the north. A win in Virginia was a good get. But not when one considers that only Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) were on the ballot. Even more, Paul got a surprising 40 percent of the Virginia vote (a number inflated by Romney opponents using the congressman as a proxy candidate). Read more at the Huffington Post…

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Here’s a quick guide to what’s at stake next Tuesday in the GOP primary:

• Alaska—26 delegates, caucus
• Georgia—76 delegates, primary
• Idaho—32 delegates, caucus
• Massachusetts—41 delegates, primary
• North Dakota—28 delegates, caucus
• Ohio—66 delegates, primary
• Oklahoma—43 delegates, primary
• Tennessee—58 delegates, primary
• Vermont—17 delegates, primary
• Virginia—49 delegates, primary

In addition to the above contests, Wyoming Republicans will begin their formal delegate selection process. That comes on the heels of their just-concluded straw poll. Mitt Romney is expected to gain 10 delegates, Rick Santorum 8, Ron Paul 6, and Newt Gingrich 2 with 3 others undetermined. In Washington state, Republicans will hold their caucuses on Saturday with 43 delegates at stake.

Through the end of February, 302 of the 2,286 available delegate had been selected. After Super Tuesday, another 508 will have been chosen—nearly twice as many as have been picked to date. In total, a bit more than one-third of all available delegates will have been chosen. Read more at DailyKos…

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