Posted by
Ryan Hawkins on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:50:27 PM
Remember when Reagan pre-emptively announced his Richard Schweiker and gained a ton of momentum after a series of losses in 1976? (Although Reagan was a little late on that strategy, it very effective and probably would have worked had Reagan done it sooner.)
Perhaps the time has come for Mitt to do something similarly unorthodox. How about a pre-emptive announcement from Romney that his "Richard Schweiker" is going to be J.C. Watts? A Romney-Watts ticket would thrash all hopes of a Hillary or Obama victory because it yanks away African American bloc voters from the Dem's. Furthermore it adds evangelical comfort to the Romney ticket with a good ole Southern Baptist.
I think that might even be enough to give the "I'm settling for McCain because he's electable" crowd something to get excited about...and McCain might no longer squeak by as the unintended beneficiary of a divided party on 3% - 5% victories. There are too many conservatives who don't want McCain to be the nominee. McCain is bad for the party. Romney needs to harness all that opposition to McCain and put it to work for him.