Alejandro Barrientos
Rick Perry, for example, entered the race with a clear lead. He seemed to be the perfect fit for the nomination: a Christian governor of Texas, who seemed and walked confident and tall at all times. He resembled former President George W. Bush in many ways.
However, the debates happened and everyone was able to see that you can get dealt all the right cards on paper, but, if you can’t hold your own ground on a debate, the highest office in the world is not for you. His “oops” moment in one of the GOP debates will forever be remembered as one of the most embarrassing moments in debate history.
Then there was Herman Cain. Who can forget his tax proposal and constant ramble of “nine, nine, nine”? He was also in the lead for some time. However, in the debates he clearly demonstrated he had absolutely no foreign policy experience or ideas. How can someone be running for the presidency of the United States and not be sure about how to deal with terrorists? However, it was not his lack of foreign policy ideas that brought him down but rather sexual harassment allegations from multiple women.
And there was Michelle Bachman, who also had her moment. She won the Iowa straw poll and seemed to have a shot at the nomination. However, her poor results in the Iowa primary, as well as her declining popularity among GOP voters, led her to drop out earlier than most people had anticipated. After Bachman dropped out, four candidates remain: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum.
Gingrich has gone back and forth in the lead. However, his past as a lobbyist, as a divisive house speaker, and his personal life are all factors that keep voters skeptical about voting for Gingrich. Just last week, his second wife gave an interview to CBS in which she states the former speaker asked her to engage in an open marriage relationship. She mentions telling Gingrich in the final stages of their marriage, “We have been married a long time,” to which Gingrich allegedly responded, “Yes, but you want me all to yourself.”
The GOP has a strong Christian base, particularly a very strong evangelical group of voters. This group of voters would never vote for Gingrich, even if he had a magic wand to restore the economy.
As for Romney, he has been in the lead back and forth as well, but his ideological inconsistency makes some voters uncomfortable. He was pro-choice in the past; now he is pro-life. He used to support the idea that humans are having impact on climate change; he now says, “We don’t know what’s causing climate change.”
Most importantly, while he was governor of Massachusetts he fully supported and passed a health care plan that was much bigger than the health care plan President Obama passed—which was unpopular among GOP voters. Another factor playing against him, sadly, is the fact that he is a Mormon and it is very likely that, for some of the Christians in the GOP, this will be a sufficient reason to settle for another candidate.
The last two candidates are Santorum and Paul. Paul has a very enthusiastic group of supporters. However a great part of the GOP base is uncomfortable with his extreme foreign policy ideas on non-interventionism and he is often called an isolationist. His support for things such as the legalization of marijuana makes many people uneasy.
Santorum has seen a late surge in the polls. He won the Iowa primary by 34 votes. However, many voters feel he is too young and he is very unpopular among gay voters for his intolerant comments made in the past regarding gay marriage.
So there you have it. This GOP primary election has been in many ways, similar to an episode of “The Bachelor” where voters fall in love with a candidate one week, another one the next week, and sometimes two or more candidates in the same week only to find out something they don’t like about them. At this point, it seems that GOP voters are more concerned about simply finding a candidate that can beat Barack Obama and not one that truly represents them.
Just some more liberal babble….