24 « April « 2012 « Frank's Place

Can you feel it? We are getting close. Event Horizon is a term related to relativity, describing the boundary by which an outside observer can no longer be affected by events through space and time. In other words, it’s the point of no return. Tonight we reached the event horizon of the republican primary election. Governor Romney can’t officially win the nomination of his party until the Texas primary on May 29th at the earliest, but by sweeping the five states that voted tonight, he will no longer be affected by the Newts and Ron Pauls of the political world. The republican party is at it’s event horizon, their point of no return, with Governor Romney as their nominee.

Now as we have seen over the past few weeks, there could always be a Columbian hooker in the closet, as in the case of the Secret Service, or a pregnant mistress and violation of campaign finance law, as in the case of former 08 candidate John Edwards. If any of that were to happen that would of course change the game. In this case I think the republicans are safe. This is Governor Romney’s second go round. You would think any issue would have come up by now, but hey you never know.

Just FYI; John Edwards could get 30 years in prison for what he has been accused of. The trial started today and the first witness, one of Edwards’ closest aides during his failed Presidential run, put Edwards squarely under the bus. The guy had receipts, e-mails, cashed checks, the works. Johnny Haircut might be in a pickle on this caper.

Anyway, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware voted tonight. Governor Romney swept all 5 states. His lowest percentage was in Delaware, where he got 56% of the vote. There were 231 delegates available tonight and Gov. Romney won them all. His total now stands at 801 delegates. He needs only 343 more to win the nomination. He will do that easily. There will be no floor fight at the convention.

Of course Newt finished last in every race but Delaware, coming in 2nd, some 3o percentage points behind Gov. Romney. Naturally he gave a speech in North Carolina tonight. Why North Carolina, well the Tar Heel state votes in the next primary on Tuesday, May 8th. So you know what that means, Newt is staying in. He claims he’ll reevaluate, but he said that about Delaware, and he got shellacked in Delaware. He may just to drop out tomorrow, when he has the press all to himself. He may just like having his Secret Service detail, you know the tax payer funded, heavily armed detail.

Paul finished 2nd in every race but Delaware. He took 3rd behind Newt. Interesting to note that Paul did not campaign in any of the states that voted tonight and he still beat Newt by sizable margins in 4 of the 5 states. He appears to be hanging on for a sprint to the convention, again in all likelihood to get some more time for his Libertarian message.

Next primary is May 8th. North Carolina, West Virginia, and Indiana are up. Should be another 132 delegates in Governor Romney’s column.

We have another dead period as we wait the two weeks for the May 8th vote. What will we find out next. Will it be another dog meat buffet scandal, illegal immigrant hedge trimmers, fancy vacations, or an oldy but a goody, the birth certificate conundrum?

Rest assured, if it’s utterly ridiculous, heinously stupid, and completely manufactured, Frank’s Place will be all over it.

This is it. Possibly. Tonight’s the night. I think.

This should be the final step for Governor Romney. He is running basically unopposed now and while he can’t technically win the nomination tonight, that could come in Texas on May 29th at the earliest, he can effectively put the nomination away by sweeping the five northeastern states voting tonight. If he can’t do that, the doubts that have been finding a voice the past three weeks may get louder.

The governor has already shifted to hammering the President, although he made that move after the Florida primary. The big difference this time; the White House has shifted to hammering Romney, clearly believing he is the man. The only person who doesn’t believe it is Newt, and a lot of the electorate.

Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director called it way back in August of 2011. The Republican base may not fall in love with Mitt Romney but they need to fall in LIKE with him. Still not sure the electorate is in like with Mitt Romney. Tonight will go a long way to settling that down.

In Newt’s case his ego just won’t let him quit. His debt on the other hand… Currently the Gingrich campaign is over 6 million in debt and that number is rising. For some reason Newt and Calista have refused to accept they are the fringe campaign. Both still use a private jet for travel, and Calista still maintains a personal body guard service, even though she has a secret service agent assigned to her. Speaking of the US Secret Service, guess which candidate who is against frivolous government spending still demands a secret service detail, costing the tax payer some serious gitas (money). Newt and Calista will have that detail until he drops from the race; something he say’s he’s not willing to do until the convention.

However, because of the mounting debt there has been rumblings that Newt may pull the cord after the Delaware primary. Delaware? That’s his last stand according to his campaign. Not really sure what a portion of 17 delegates will do for a campaign that’s over 500 delegates behind and 6 mil in debt but hey what do I know, he’s the PhD.

Don’t Look Now…..

Remember all those dumb little non-binding delegates from all those dumb little caucuses in the mid-west? Well, they have been conducting their respective state conventions and guess who’s been winning a lot of those un-bound delegates? If you guessed Congressman Ron Paul, take 10 dollars out of petty cash. The Paul campaign has 2+ million in surplus cash, no debt, no on coming debt. He’s not traveling much, speaking at local events in his districts or at colleges where the school puts up the fee. In other words it turns out Ron Paul practices what he preaches. It has put him in good position for …

Guess what, Ron Paul may survive to the convention. He can’t win it but he’ll finish second in overall delegates which would be a huge feat. He’ll probably be offered a speech in close to prime time network coverage at the convention; in the dinner hour most likely, and that’s the victory Paul is looking for. He knows he can’t win, but if he can keep getting his message out there through the remainder of this election, that will be victory enough.

All five states are in the correct time zone, so polls close anywhere from 7 to 8pm eastern. Check back for results after 8.

Oh and any polls you see in April have absolutely no bearing in November. Romney has drawn even with the President, the President trails Romney, it will be all over the map. The only poll that matters now is the one you’re standing in on Tuesday, November 6th.