Gop Election 2012

A battered Romney held on a short leash by his party's right wing should be good news for President Obama, but with the electorate as deeply divided as it is, national polls are telling a different story.

I'm going to be honest, here. I'm just as bored with the Republican nomination race as everyone else is by now. The mainstream media pundits have done a mighty job of trying to keep the excitement alive, but it's just not working anymore.

Eric Fehrnstrom is correct. The slate will be wiped clean in the fall. The challenge for the Romney campaign will be to articulate an alternative, more conservative vision of the nation, and Whatever he says, whatever he did, I'm against it is unlikely to suffice.

Chait's emphasis on demographic shifts is powerful and mainly on target, but there is a broader historical context to his analysis that complements, extends and better explains the hysteria dominating the current rhetoric of the Republican party.

Whether or not former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney wins Tuesday's primary contests in Michigan and Arizona, he is in trouble, and both he and the Republican Party leadership know it.

What is to be done? Occupy the vote. Cure voter suppression with a commitment to participate in the civic sacrament of voting and to protect others' rights to do so.

Republicans have a problem. They have several plausible candidates who could beat Obama, but they will have a tough time getting nominated. And the candidates who might be able to get through can't beat Obama.