Bickering, seek competition and flames of controversy are engulfing the Republican presidency nomination process at the moment. Members of the same party are fighting hard to race against Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States, viagra in the process perhaps hindering their own chances as they strive to eliminate their opponents.
The last few weeks in the race has seen the loss of; the Tea Party movement candidate Michelle Bachmann, doctor former Godfather’s pizza chain CEO Herman Cain and the moderate billionaire John Huntsman. The mo recent casualty to the election was former texas congressman, Rick Perry. So, with whom are we left?
Former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, is currently the frontrunner, having won the New Hampshire primary. These successes are perhaps a reflection of the vast sum that he has raised for his campaign. Currently the figures lie at no less than $36 million compared to his republican colleague Newt Gingrich who has raised just under $3 million. However, Romney holds the lead over his rivals and has the support of 28% of Republican primary voters while Gingrich has 21% as recent polls suggest. Gingrich came out in front on Saturday night in South Carolina where he topped the poll with 42%.
On Tuesday 17th January Romney gave a 13 minute speech before leaving to New York indicating that he isn’t particularly confident about his chances of winning in South Carolina.
Newt Gingrich is confident that he is the one to beat Romney. During the Fox News/Google debate, Gingrich said, “Any vote for Santorum or Perry, in effect, is a vote to let Romney become the nominee.” He has placed considerable efforts on hampering the campaigns of others with his negative advertising. Gingrich issued an ad complaining about Romney’s ability to speak French while publicizing “Crate-Gate,” an incident involving Romney, whereby he left Seamus, his Irish setter, in a crate on the top of his car as the family were traveling to their holiday destination. He also produced an ad against Rick Santorum, the former conservative Senator.
Ron Paul, a former congressman and member of the tea party movement, has so far raised over $12 million. Despite his successes in the race thus far he feels that it is unlikely that he will get the nomination. In an interview with the New York Times Paul said, “The odds are right now that Romney, he pulls it off.”
Ron Paul’s assessment does seem right and that Mitt Romney is the target for all of the other opponents. Rick Perry, the former Texan governor requested that Romney release his income tax during the Fox News/Google debate. “Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so that the people of this country can see how you made your money, as Republicans, we cannot fire our nominee in September. We need to know now.”
As the candidates move onto Florida all eyes will be on Gingrich to see if he can maintain the momentum he gained from winning South Carolina.
Peter Hamilton
You cannot talk about money unless you make clear these are the donations of individuals to candidates and not where a huge proportion comes from – PACs and SuperPACs – where an individual can give an unlimited amount (over the $2,500 max allowed directly to candidates) and in the case of SuperPACs corporations can also donate. Quick example; one couple has given $10 million to SuperPAC supporting Gingrich:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57364340-503544/gingrich-super-pac-gets-$5-million-infusion/