fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

“Reinvent the Smoke-Filled Room”

Maybe the Romney campaign wants to lose: Andrea Mitchell: I talked to a top Romney adviser tonight who said, ‘Look, if Mitt Romney can not win here in Florida then we’re going to have to try to reinvent the smoke-filled room which has been democratized by all these primaries. And we’re going to have try […]

Maybe the Romney campaign wants to lose:

Andrea Mitchell: I talked to a top Romney adviser tonight who said, ‘Look, if Mitt Romney can not win here in Florida then we’re going to have to try to reinvent the smoke-filled room which has been democratized by all these primaries. And we’re going to have try to come with someone as an alternative to Newt Gingrich who could be Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, someone.’ Because there is such a desperation by the so-called party elites, but that’s exactly what Gingrich is playing against.

This isn’t exactly helping Romney to have one of his advisers saying this. It would be amusing and obnoxious if “party elites” tried this, but I don’t see how it would work. Were such a thing to happen, the alternative candidate would have an enormous credibility problem from the very beginning, and anyone selected this way would probably have baggage that people haven’t considered yet. It was one thing for various non-Romney candidates to compete to be treated as Romney’s replacement, but it would be something else entirely for someone to be selected and presented as a “party elite”-favored substitute. Of course, this assumes that Romney couldn’t still win the nomination after losing Florida, and that’s not clear at all.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here