Question of the Week #5

At this point, the Republican nominee has to be Mitt Romney.  The Republicans are going to face an uphill battle even with Romney running (which is rather pitiful, they really should run away with this election given Obama's lack of leadership), but they're essentially casting votes for Obama if they nominate anyone besides Romney.  Their other options are a far right conservative lunatics (Santorum), a man who is unrealistic at best, possibly insane at worst (Paul), or a pompous jackass named Newt (doesn't really have that presidential ring to it, does it?).  Oh, and there's Perry and Huntsman. As far as they go: thanks for playing.  In short, anyone besides Mitt Romney is just too extreme, and will scare away the moderate and independent voters.  The Republicans best hope is that the economy stays sluggish, and enough people are angry with Obama that they go out and vote for Romney whether they like him or not.  If the current trend of economic recovery continues (200,000 jobs created last month, unemployment down to 8.5%) the Republicans should probably give up on the White House and try not to get hosed in Congress, where the militant Tea Party Republicans who often won't even cooperate with their leader John Boehner have earned the 112th Congress an approval rating that hovers just above single digits.