February 11, 2008

Last Nominee Standing

By Thomas Lifson
Thirty-seven weeks to go, and the presidential campaign already is in uncharted territory. At the moment, each party seems to be trying to defeat itself, discrediting its own future nominee. Thanks to a slew of winner-take-all contests, the new architecture of the nominating has produced a nearly undisputed champion for the GOP, accompanied by a powerfully disaffected wing of the conservative base forming a semi-circular firing squad around him. The Democrats, with their proportional delegate allocation schemes, face what promises to be a steel cage death match, possibly fought on the convention floor with super delegate-poaching and battles over seating the Florida and Michigan delegations.  Each can take bitter pleasure in the troubles of the other side. It's schadenfreude season.  On the sidelines sit potential third party candidates, eying the two parties the way a jackal gazes at a pair of lame wildebeests. Michael Bloomerg, a man capable of financing an entire...(Read Full Article)