Does it Really Matter Anymore Who is the Republican Nominee?

COMMENTARY | South Carolina Republicans cast their vote today for the Republican nominee. This primary is historic for Republican contenders to the throne because its winner usually wins the Republican nomination for president.

What seemed like an easy contest to add delegates to front-runner Mitt Romney just a few weeks ago is turning into a nail-biting, down to the wire finish. According to the latest poll numbers from Friday’s survey of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters by The American Research Group, once down and counted out Newt Gingrich has surged to lead in the poll over Romney with 40 percent of likely voters choosing him over the 26 percent choosing Romney.

While this seems to be bad news for Romney, it is not necessarily good news for Gingrich or the Republican Party as a whole come the election for President in November.

The 600 respondents to Friday’s poll were given the options of Romney, Gingrich, Ron Paul or Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination. Few are taking the entry of comedian Steven Colbert into the political race seriously, as indicated by the turn out at the joint rally Colbert had Friday with former nominee contender Herman Cain, whose name remains a choice on South Carolina’s ballot.

Fellow comedian and now leader of Colbert’s Super PAC, Jon Stewart, posted in his most recent newsletter: “Today is the South Carolina Republican Primary, so I just wanted to remind you to make your voice heard in the form of Stephen Colbert’s voice in the form of Herman Cain’s voice. Do you patriotic duty and vote for a man that’s no longer running!”

Colbert’s entry into the race has served two purposes. First, it has put a spotlight on how little voters know about the influence now wielded by Super PACs and the unlimited funds that corporations, unions and groups can raise and contribute to them to be used for “attack ads” to influence the political process.

The fact that it has taken a comedian to bring light to this potentially corrupting influence of money to our political process is not funny. Secondly, Colbert’s candidacy brings something else to light that should be no laughing matter to Republicans. In the Maris Poll, South Carolina Republican voters were asked, “Are you currently satisfied with the Republican candidates who are running for president of the United States or would you like to see someone else run?” A startling 41 percent of South Carolina voters responded that they would “like to see someone else run.”

It has long been understood that the longer the nomination process takes, the better it is for the opposing side. The Maris Poll suggests that even if the contest were to end tomorrow, regardless of who is the eventual Republican nominee, almost half wish they had another choice. If this belief continues to be held by the Republican electorate, it may be what ensures President Obama’s reelection victory, giving the winner of the Republican Nomination Contest a Pyrrhic victory at best.


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