American Primaries: The Great Republican Fatigue
Published in Liberation
(France) on 5 March 2012
by Fabrice Rousselot (link to original)
Had enough of this never-ending Republican primary?
You're not alone.
On the eve of the famous Super Tuesday (when 10 states hold their primaries), many Republicans themselves are questioning this race, which has lasted for months and so far only fueled divisions within the GOP.
"Honestly, we should stop this," a tired New York Republican told us this weekend. "Everyone says it's good for the party and for democracy. But this is just the opposite. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars and in the end we still do not know who our candidate will be, and we show ourselves at our worst: a completely fractured party, pitching dangerously to the right.”
It was on June 2, 2011 that Mitt Romney officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination. In other words, it has been an eternity. Since then, the former Massachusetts governor, presented as the favorite, has run from problem to problem, and he has been especially overcome by the ultra-religious Rick Santorum.
Two weeks ago, while traveling around Arizona exposing fractures within the Republican party, Barry Goldwater, the son of the 1960s conservative leader, wondered the same about the French election: "How do you do it in France? Because here, it's really much too long. We should reduce the primaries and the campaign to a few months."
The hope for many Republicans is that Super Tuesday will lead to a decisive advantage for Mitt Romney. But this is far from certain.
As of today, for example, Romney has in his pocket about 150 Republican delegates who would vote for him at the national convention in August, and Santorum has 85. Whoever wins would reap the other 1,144.
On Tuesday, 437 delegates are at stake. But whatever the results, Rick Santorum and even the awful Newt Gingrich vowed they would continue to fight to the end.
This promises...
You're not alone.
On the eve of the famous Super Tuesday (when 10 states hold their primaries), many Republicans themselves are questioning this race, which has lasted for months and so far only fueled divisions within the GOP.
"Honestly, we should stop this," a tired New York Republican told us this weekend. "Everyone says it's good for the party and for democracy. But this is just the opposite. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars and in the end we still do not know who our candidate will be, and we show ourselves at our worst: a completely fractured party, pitching dangerously to the right.”
It was on June 2, 2011 that Mitt Romney officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination. In other words, it has been an eternity. Since then, the former Massachusetts governor, presented as the favorite, has run from problem to problem, and he has been especially overcome by the ultra-religious Rick Santorum.
Two weeks ago, while traveling around Arizona exposing fractures within the Republican party, Barry Goldwater, the son of the 1960s conservative leader, wondered the same about the French election: "How do you do it in France? Because here, it's really much too long. We should reduce the primaries and the campaign to a few months."
The hope for many Republicans is that Super Tuesday will lead to a decisive advantage for Mitt Romney. But this is far from certain.
As of today, for example, Romney has in his pocket about 150 Republican delegates who would vote for him at the national convention in August, and Santorum has 85. Whoever wins would reap the other 1,144.
On Tuesday, 437 delegates are at stake. But whatever the results, Rick Santorum and even the awful Newt Gingrich vowed they would continue to fight to the end.
This promises...