COMMENTARY | Few people care about or remember silver medal winners. It is all about who brings home the gold.
Mitt Romney should be aware of this fact after overseeing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. A pair of second-place finishes in Iowa and South Carolina has the one-time favorite for the Republican nomination no longer enjoying frontrunner status. The former Massachusetts governor looks more like a candidate desperately searching for answers on what went wrong.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich overtook Romney in South Carolina and walked away with a primary victory in a state that has accurately predicted the Republican nominee in every Presidential election since 1980. Gingrich won by a wide margin, capturing 243,153 votes or 40.4 percent of the primary total. Romney finished a distant second with 167,279 votes or 27.8 percent of the primary total.
This does not mean that Romney is finished in the battle for the nomination. It does mean, however, that his chances of coming out on top in Florida or elsewhere have taken a major hit.
The biggest problem facing Romney is the same one that has faced him all along. As a candidate, he is seen as indecisive on where he really stands on key conservative issues. Romney was elected in Massachusetts as a moderate Republican. Now as he has tried to court the conservative wing of the party, some Republicans are not convinced he is conservative enough based on his record as Massachusetts governor.
Religion has been another issue as some voters have shown reluctance to support a Mormon as a candidate for President. The concern is that loyalty to LDS Church general authorities as an active Mormon could exert undue influence on decisions Romney would make if he were elected U.S. President. Romney’s religious beliefs have therefore caused concern among some Republicans that he would not fare well against President Barack Obama in the Presidential election.
Still, one thing Romney has in his favor over his rivals for the nomination are deep pockets and a campaign that runs like a well-oiled machine. None of them enjoy the financial support Romney does. A larger number of leaders from the traditional Republican establishment have come out in support of Romney as well in comparison to his rivals.
Florida could be a make or break state for Romney. If he should fail to win the primary there on January 31, he risks fading into irrelevancy and watching either Gingrich or Rick Santorum rise up and snatch the Republican nomination away for themselves.