Tuesday's abysmal turnout to vote in the Republican presidential primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island merely confirmed what all of us already knew -- there is no Republican presidential race for the nomination. Mitt Romney already won. And If the Republicans really mean what they say about saving taxpayer money, the GOP would cancel the remaining primaries. By doing so, they would be saving states millions of dollars that are being unnecessarily spent on contests that are meaningless exercises, and that barely bring out their own party faithful. Yesterday, even the Republican National Committee recognized Mitt as the presumptive nominee, announcing that they would be officially working with his campaign.
Here are the pathetic facts of my own home state, Connecticut: On Tuesday, only 58,000 people, more or less, bothered to vote, out of the pool of 427,000 eligible Republicans. That represents a whopping 14.4 percent turnout of Republicans. Of that total, Mitt Romney received 40,000 votes, or 67 percent. This high percentage for Mitt held throughout all the other states which voted on Tuesday. One listener to my radio show told me that when he voted, he was the sole person at the voting booth, but counted 38 other workers at the station. Most are volunteer, but some are paid to be there. These numbers and percentages were consistent throughout the other four states as well.
Of course, to accomplish the worthy goal of actually saving the taxpayers money, the Republicans would need to make some sacrifices. Egos would need to be pushed aside for the greater good. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul would need to call the whole thing off, instructing their delegates to unite in the cause of Mitt, and cast all their votes for Mitt at the convention. Requesting a cancellation would require all of them setting aside their own ambitions, their own needs to be center stage, their own addictions to the special kind of fame that comes with running for president.
So Messrs Santorum, Gingrich and Paul, if you men really mean what you have said on the campaign trail about cutting wasteful spending, this one is a very easy call. Perhaps in exchange for your graceful exit, the RNC will aid you in paying off all that campaign debt you so willingly incurred, debt incidentally that you keep telling us we can no longer afford to carry.
I am calling you on your rhetoric, asking you to put your ego where your mouth is, asking you to unite in calling for a cancellation of the remaining primaries, not merely for the good of the Republican party, but for the good of the entire electorate, whose taxes go to state budgets which are already strained to the max. Will you do it?