Dr.Traveler
Mathematician
- Aug 31, 2009
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True enough in the past, but not the last two elections. With McCain and Romney both, the rank and file Republicans haven't really liked them and only reluctnatly got behind them once they were the results of the shake out of the primary process. I don't believe the establishment was behind McCain or Romney from the get go.
Yes and no. McCain and Romney both put a lot of effort into reaching out to the power brokers after their unsuccessful run. When I said earlier that Romney's only principle was winning, that was what I was talking about. It happened to McCain too. Both men woke up after losing their respective primary bids, realized they wanted to win the next bid, and started reaching out to the guys they couldn't stand to make connections.
Romney in particular had some pretty serious backing from some of the big money folks in the GOP in 2012. It wasn't just his own money that kept buying him wins every time Santorum might actually turn things around.
BTW, this isn't exactly a bad thing. The GOP process typically does an extremely thorough job vetting candidates AND bringing them in line with the party platforms. Romney in 2008 and McCain in 2000 weren't exactly taking the platform as dogma. By their next bids, their stances came directly out of party dogma. That IS NOT BAD, as your primary candidate is supposed to pick the guy that best represents the party goals.
On the DNC side, you sometimes get folks that are just way outside the party platform and pasts that aren't vetted. Clinton and Obama both pissed off their base more than once by breaking ranks and leaning right at key policy moments, and both have had more than a few skeletons in the closet. I don't necessarily consider the DNC primary process to be that bad either, as with the DNC you're more likely to pick up a moderate as a candidate because they've got a better chance to "sneak through." The downside is you've got a chance to get someone like John Edwards get to the number 2 spot on the ticket.
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