Word: gop
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There's a reason they call it the "Firewall." From its inception, the South Carolina Republican primary was meant to douse the flames of political passion. The late GOP strategic wizard Lee Atwater designed the thing to give conservative Southerners a say in the presidential process and offer churchgoers a power line to the White House. Then he scheduled it right after Iowa and New Hampshire, the ideal spot for the party establishment to suppress an insurgent candidate's momentum...
...midterm elections should have been a wake-up call for Republicans. Conservatives showed up in the usual numbers to vote for the GOP. But some Republican-leaning independents switched sides, and the Democrats got 57% of all independents. If Republicans don't win some of them back, the GOP is headed for a long spell in the minority...
Several of the GOP candidates have qualities that might appeal to independent voters: Rudy Giuliani's successful record as mayor of New York City, Mitt Romney's intelligence and competence, Mike Huckabee's concern for the poor. But McCain just won more independent voters than the others in the swing state of New Hampshire. And he is the only candidate with a platform that might attract them...
...chairman, took the expectations game even further, recalling a past candidate who was "five states in before he won his first primary," and then went on to win the presidency. Romney accepted the silver with cool grace, but one wonders how well he would receive being compared to perennial GOP punching bag, Bill Clinton...
...Republican race, meanwhile, is again thrown into a cocked hat. Relying on a deep well of support among evangelical voters and Iowa home schoolers, Huckabee's win shakes up the GOP contest once more, setting up an unexpected three-way race in New Hampshire between Huckabee, Romney and former Arizona Senator John McCain, with libertarian Ron Paul and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani bringing up the rear...