Mapping Out a Path for the GOP

Marc Ambinder brings us this map of Michigan. McCain got the craggy UP, Romney the more urban-suburban Mitten:)

Byron York, NRO, Why Romney Won:

When rival John McCain said — probably correctly — that some of the state’s lost automotive jobs wouldn’t come back, Romney answered, “Baloney.” He also promised the auto industry $20 billion in federal investment, along with relief from mileage standards and burdensome employee health-care costs. Looked at from the voter’s perspective, one candidate, McCain, offered Michiganders little understanding — the Michigan equivalent of McCain’s opposition to ethanol subsidies in Iowa — while the other, Romney, promised to throw them a life preserver. The guy with the life preserver won.

I think Mitt is stealing some of Huckabee's thunder on looking out for the little guy--after all, who creates the jobs--it's not big government, it's enterpreneurs. Romney has done it, and understands how the economy works. As John Hinderaker, Powerline says "...some voters, at least, may realize that Romney not only feels their pain, he might actually have some idea what to do about it." Mitt strikes the right, positive tone--a hand-up, not a bailout. John Podhoretz on McCain's failure in Michigan:

Having said jobs in Michigan were not coming back, he went to Michigan and praised efforts to mandate an increase in fuel-mileage standards, which auto executives claim will raise the price of a car fully $6,000 — a job killer, in other words. And he spoke against drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, which is the only realistic way for the United States to increase its own domestic oil supply.

McCain’s line is that he is a straight talker. But there are moments he seems to make a fetish of his own honesty, and asks others to support him solely because of it.

Yeah, we like and respect him but a little too much nobility already, a little more common sense would be welcome, which Romney offers in abundance.

So the race moves to South Carolina, where McCain has the edge, Huckabee is stalling, and Thompson is rising. Romney is holding in there. Rudy has almost dropped off the map there, holing up in Florida, his big chance before Super Tuesday on Feg. 5th. But Florida is a 4-way tie.

The polls are spotty in Nevada, a caucus state which also votes this Saturday. What polls there are give Romney the lead lately, despite its being next door to John McCain's home state of Arizona. Prior to Mitt's Michigan win, RedState Romney-backer Jeff Fuller made the case for why the Nevada results matter at least as much as South Carolina:

NV: 34 delegates up for grabs
SC: 24 delegates up for grabs

NV: Important swing state/purple state (i.e. we need someone who can show/run strong in such a state for the general election)
SC: Solid Red state . . . whoever the nominee is will win SC and most of the south no matter what.

NV: First western state on the docket (and much of that region are swing states)
SC: First southern state primary . . . and the south is pretty much locked up for the GOP.

Objectively, NV looks MORE important than SC to me!

(Fuller also notes AP bias against Romney, which was not hard to find, almost every MSM lead I read last night had "desperate" in there. And of course, they love McCain when they're not adoring Obama. Sigh. Well, that 's also why we blog.)

Which brings us to the next point--which Hinderaker also raises--MSM, stop pressuring our candidates to get out!!!We voters want our say--that's why the schedule is so compressed, as everyone jostled for influence. Illinois is on Feb. 5th, Super Tuesday. We have more than a few delegates at stake, and are a Blue State that could be in play in November--after all, our economy shares the cellar with Michigan's. (We have a lousy Dem governor who no one, except himself I'm sure, has even considered for the presidency. Instead we have another liberal Dem prima donna running from Illinois.)

And frankly, our formal and intra-party debates are much more healthy and substantive than the Democrats'.

So the GOP may put MSP on the map in September on the way to a win in November.

UPDATE: Thompson battling it out with Huckabee over the Huckster's deceptive and nasty push polls (which continues to raise this unanswered question).

FoxNews: "Romney puts the squeeze on the GOP field"

UPDATE: WSJ: No standard-bearer for the GOP, and they offer up again their archived interview with Romney:

While some have questioned Mr. Romney's authenticity, the immediate impression he gives is that he speaks straight from the heart. Especially where data are concerned. "I used to call it 'wallowing in the data,'" Mr. Romney continues. "Let me see the data. I want to see the client's data, the competitors' data. I want to see all the data."[snip]

The answer to this question is as abstract as his overture was personal. The "I" in the question seems to disappear: "I think what America faces now are extraordinary challenges, which, if we deal with appropriately, will allow us to remain the world's military and economic superpower for an indefinite period of time."

Mr. Romney does then introduce a personal element, but it's not his own person. "If we instead take the course that Hillary Clinton would prescribe," he warns, "it would lead to America becoming the France of this century -- having started as a superpower, ending up as a second-tier power."

UPDATE: NRO Editors:

Gov. Mitt Romney’s win in Michigan was larger than Sen. John McCain’s in New Hampshire last week, and just as broad. Romney won in all regions and among all age groups, among people who never went to college and people with post-graduate degrees. One continuity between the two states: Romney won among conservatives both times. A second continuity was that McCain won independent voters — but Romney, in both states, did respectably among them. [snip]

He should keep his economic focus, but with two adjustments. First: One of Romney’s standard applause lines is that the middle class needs a tax cut. So far, however, all he has offered the middle class is the chance to earn interest, dividends, and capital gains tax-free. He ought to broaden his appeal among middle-income voters by offering something more substantial.

UDPATE: NY Times' Nagourney, Mitt had an "easy" win in Michigan, but had to make a "major effort" --gee, which is it? And the Dems are just peachy:

On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized Democratic Party.

Even in victory, Mr. Romney stood as evidence of the trouble the party finds itself in. He won, but only after a major effort in a state he once expected to win in a walk. That was before he lost Iowa and New Hampshire, two other states where he had campaigned all out.

WaPo take here..."surprisingly easy win", race "scrambled".

Previous posts: Sweet on Mitt!!!, Michigan Moment-um?