February 21, 2012

Nelson Rockefeller's Lesson for Mitt Romney

By Chris DeSanctis
Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, out-funded and out-organized, is winning presidential primaries and caucuses because of Mitt Romney's Rockefeller problem.  In his bid for the White House, Romney faces challenges similar to those Nelson Rockefeller, 49th governor of New York, faced during his 1964 presidential primary fight against the U.S. Senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater.  Rockefeller was a liberal Republican whose views were generally closer to the Democratic Party. In his time, conservatives were based in the Midwest and were growing in number in the West and South, while the moderate-to-liberal wing of the GOP was based in the Northeast and was the dominant force in the party. This latter wing was nicknamed me-too Republicanism for running on a platform resembling the Democratic Party (synonymous with today's Republican in Name Only [RINO]). To run against John F. Kennedy for the presidency, Rockefeller needed first to win the primary. Thinking his liberal...(Read Full Article)