I don’t see how it could happen, I don’t think it will happen but this? It makes you wonder. If the “establishment” starts bailing on Romney…..
A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.“If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity.
The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not.
If sitting GOP Senators start talking about this on the record then we will be in a whole different world. It’s not a world any better than the one we are in now but very, very different.
What’s Romney’s problem? Well mostly it’s that he has so many.
It’s too late for anyone else to get in the race, at least if ‘get in the race’ means getting on enough ballots to be able to win the first round of voting at the convention. Yes, it’s mathematically possible. Practically speaking though? No.
Now, if you just want a candidate who gets a plurality of delegates from at least five states (which is apparently the minimum requirement to even be eligible to win the nomination at the convention), that should still be possible. Sure make an even bigger mess though!
One thing to watch as the various states vote is the way in which the delegates are chosen – by which I mean, who the delegates actually are, not who they’re bound to vote for at the first round. In some places like PA where I live, the delegates are on the ballot and are elected directly in the primary. But in many states the delegates are chosen by party insiders – so while they may be bound to support the winner of the state primary for a round or two of voting, they might actually be supporters of someone entirely different.