James Robert Kelley

Mitt Romney “suspended” his run for President after the Super Tuesday primaries.  “Suspended” means something quite different than “dropped out.”  Mitt Romney is basically still in the running, he is technically taking a breather.   This could be a rest that lasts the entire Primary process, he could rejoin the race, or he could use his delegates in a bid to gain the Vice President slot in the GOP nomination process.

The possibility of rejoining the race seems remote, but I see a possible strategy he could be employing.  John McCain gained a “front-runner” status after Super Tuesday with nearly 700 delegates in the bag.  The momentum he gained seemed unstoppable, so Romney would consider it prudent to drop out of the race; even without a strategy to win the nomination.  The strategy would be to “suspend” his race, which would unite the anti-McCain voters toward Huckabee or Ron Paul.  As we have seen in the February 9th primary and caucuses, Huckabee took all of the delegates awarded.

Huckabee has gained momentum during the February 9th Primaries due to the absense of Mitt Romney.  This could put an end to John McCain’s momentum and unlock his grasp on an outright nomination.  If that happens, John McCain will need to survive a brokered convention, which is not as certain.  Mitt Romney would then be able to reenter the race at a time when John McCain is down and try to gain enough delegates to become a force in the brokered convention.

Will this happen?  I have no idea, but it seems very possible that Mitt Romney could be counting on it.

The Fox News Unfair in the Balance article gave an example of how Fox News shows bias toward Ron Paul in the 2008 Presidential election process, but CNN is not innocent in this matter.

When looking at the CNN website today I noticed a prominently displayed chart that details the fund raising numbers for each of the Presidential Candidates. A copy of the chart, taken from http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/candidates/ is below:

The chart is on a page with current information, and shows a ranking of candidate fund raising. If you notice the small print, the chart states “TOTAL as of 9/30/2007.” The reason this is misleading is that news agencies have already posted results of 4th quarter fund raising and readers are assuming they are seeing current information (this is a NEWs agency). Ron Paul, who is dead last in this chart, actually raised more money that the two Republican front-runners combined in the 4th quarter; cash on hand is also greater than the combined amount of Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Why would CNN do this? Ask ABC and the Associated Press why they recently released financial numbers and completely left the top earner off of their report. This happens so frequently that no argument can be made that this isn’t an intentional pattern.

This whole debacle causes me to remember one of the plot threads from the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart. The establishment on both sides of the conflict was more interested in their own promotion and importance that they were willing to sacrifice freedom. Today we have oppressive organizations that seek to maintain their power, even if it means sacrificing what is most important.

The 2008 Presidential Election cycle is not the first time John McCain has run for President. He was defeated by George W. Bush in 2000 for the Republican nomination, even though he did well in some of the early primary states.

John McCain first introduced the The McCain–Feingold Act in 1995, in preparation for the 2000 Election. McCain–Feingold was filibustered and did not gain any traction until 2002, after the 2000 Election cycle in which John McCain was defeated by his opponents superior fund raising. I believe this was the main reason he pushed the bill through in 2002.

Rudy Giuliani recently dropped out of the race, mainly due to his inability to raise money under the McCain–Feingold Act’s restrictions on fund raising. Mitt Romney is somewhat immune to this Act, since he is personally wealthy. Ron Paul is also able to raise large amounts of funds from small donors, but there is no doubt that his existing opponents would be able to far out raise McCain if they were able to draw on restricted funds.

Mike Huckabee is a strong example. He does not have much support from small donors, but he would be able to draw in large amounts of money from religious organizations. Mitt Romney would be able to draw funds from corporate interests and Ron Paul would be able to draw funds from Libertarian groups.

With this in mind, I am convinced that John McCain feels assured he will win the nomination, because he has been crafting his plan and laying down the groundwork for over a decade. I am sure some of the readers will be able to point out additional laws and regulations John McCain has influenced to ensure his path to the Presidency, such as influence over election rules and even voting machines.