Our political Quote of the Day is from The Politico’s John Martin, Maggie Haberman and Ben Smith who say this is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s moment and if he doesn’t seize it it will be gone:
If Mitt Romney can’t start locking up the GOP nomination now, he may never be able to.
The former Massachusetts governor’s charmed path toward the presidential nomination was made even smoother Tuesday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opted out of a campaign and recommended that voters choose the candidate with the “best chance” of beating President Barack Obama.
No white knight from Trenton, N.J., or anywhere else is riding into the race as the establishment’s savior. Romney’s would-be chief rival for the nomination, Rick Perry, is dropping in the polls amid doubts from conservatives and pragmatists. And the one candidate on the rise, Herman Cain, is running for president in between stops to hawk a new book.
“In tax policy, this would be known as the unlocking effect,” former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said about the effect of Christie’s decision. “A lot of folks who’ve been waiting to see other candidates get in the race will begin moving to declared candidates.”
Crowed Romney adviser Ron Kaufman: “This is the end of ‘Waiting for Superman.’”
But for all the same reasons Christie’s decision ends the uncertainty that hovered over Romney, it also launches a frantic period for his campaign. He’s now under intense pressure to consolidate the Republican establishment behind his candidacy and build up the coveted and self-reinforcing sense of inevitability his candidacy has lacked to date.
And there were some signs in the hours after Christie’s decision that the movement to Romney had begun.
But for political junkies the REAL tip in recent days will be what happens in another area of the political scene: what will Rush Limbaugh say? Will Limbaugh and other talk show hosts start to clamor for ABR (anybody but Romney) and the political conventional wisdom be shaken up by former Godfather CEO Herman Cane’s number go up more? Will (don’t hold your breath on this one) former Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin give up her more than a year political tease that has helped her collect money for her associated groups and shock everyone by giving up her Fox News contract and enter the race?
It seems about time, now, for some stories quoting anonymous sources to claim that Jeb Bush is really reallly really seriously no joking guaranteed thinking about jumping into the race (just recycle the old Christie stories, news media, and with a few changes you can run the same ones).
Romney’s lack of respect inability to generate enthusiasm within the GOP has almost morphed into a humiliation for him.
I can remember Republicans being more excited and breathless about Bob Dole.
But if big money is now starting to swing his way with Christie out and the GOP establishment’s thirst to get some candidate out there who is a clear frontrunner and seemingly inevitable nominee, Romney should have a better shot at it.
The little qualifier: expect Rick Perry to raise a ton of money. And expect the ABR movement to look for a way, anyway, to start to excuse Perry’s failings as a debater (which Perry can begin to obliterate in the next debate) and increasing heap of political baggage.
There are now two serious anti-Romney’s: Cain and Perry. The questions become a)which one becomes the serious alternative and b)will the GOP establishment go to the mat to try and help Romney or hold its nose (and breath) and go for Perry?
But at this precise moment in time you can safely say:
It is a wide open field. Can Romney (finally) change that?
This could be Romney’s theme song in terms of his political future and what he is saying to the GOP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFN6YQOhj0
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.