"Gook": Romney is Nominated (2008)

[Rob]

On January 3, 2008, Mike Huckabee rides a wave of Christian conservative support (and Chuck Norris' endorsement) to an upset win over Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus. Overnight, Romney goes from frontrunner status to a desperate fight to stay viable, in the face of a McCain surge in New Hampshire; his victory in the Wyoming caucus, on January 5th, is duly noted and dismissed.

But on January 6th- two days before the New Hampshire primary- McCain makes an incredible error. "Pestered" for hours by a persistent Asian-American reporter, his temper gets the best of him and he calls him a "goddamn gook." Unfortunately for him, the scene is recorded on a cell phone camera, and immediately uploaded to YouTube. Within minutes, it's being played on all the news channels, and the next day, it's the headline on every newspaper. McCain quickly issues a statement- "I apologize if I offended anyone... it was a poor attempt at humor," but it's too late.

Suddenly, voters are wondering about the 71-year-old's electability, and, perhaps, his mental health. Comparisons are made to George Allen's infamous "macaca" remarks of 2006. When pressed for an opinion, Romney simply says, "No comment."

On January 8th, Romney wins an impressive victory, polling 41 percent of the vote to 22 percent for McCain, 16 percent for Huckabee, and 21 percent for all others. Low on cash and support, his hopes for a 2000-style upset shattered, McCain withdraws from the race the next day, declining to make an endorsement. The stage seems to be set for an intense Romney-Huckabee brawl in the upcoming primaries.

More to come...

[War on Want]

MOAR

I'd love to see where you go with this.

[Dancing with Myself]

This is going to be interesting.

[Rob]

Heading into the next primary, Michigan (January 15th), the race starts to get nasty. National polls now show Romney and Huckabee essentially tied, and both sides view Michigan as a crucial test. The candidates swap accusations of closet liberalism, and Huckabee accuses Romney of being "pro-abortion"; tens of thousands of anonymously printed "Mormon fact sheets" are distributed to churches in the days leading up to the election. Romney attacks Huckabee as a "tax-and-spender," and cites the case of Wayne Dumond in a debate: "If we, rightfully, criticized Mike Dukakis for the Willie Horton mess, how can we justify not holding a self-declared 'conservative' to the same standard?"

Romney outspends Huckabee by an estimated 4-1 in the state, and wins 45 percent to 42 percent, with 13 percent for all others; Huckabee carries most of rural "outstate" Michigan, and the Dutch-American territory around Grand Rapids, but Romney's huge majorities in the Detroit metro area carry the day.

Romney gets a smaller boost than expected from this win, though, and goes into South Carolina a definite underdog. The Palmetto State is genuine "Huckabee Country," as national publications note, and the Mormon issue hurts Romney badly here. Huckabee revives his campaign, winning an emphatic 48 percent to Romney's 27 percent, 20 percent for amiable loser Fred Thompson and 5 percent for others. Thompson, having "gambled his campaign" on this state, quits the race two days later and endorses Romney a week after.

Meanwhile, Romney smashed Huckabee in the Nevada caucus, but this victory was largely ignored by the media, as the GOP electorate was heavily LDS. The race appeared likely to get even more vicious at this point, as neither candidate could be sure of victory.

More later...

[Psychic Octopus]

CONINEU

[Bo]

This is going to be interesting.

[War on Want]

bump