Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Okay kiddies, time for a little bit of politics.

Mama Zyzmog and I are registered independents. We like it that way. It turns out that the Colorado voter base is almost evenly split, 1/3 each, among Dem, GOP, and independent.  We're an independent bunch out here in the West.

We've been following the Republican race for the presidential nomination because, frankly, the Democratic race is boring this year, and we don't have Stephen Harper or Silvio Berlusconi to kick around.  I've watched the evangelicals and other Christians ganging up on Mitt Romney, and I confess that I've watched with a mixture of irritation and incredulity as these people dare to say, in public, that they won't vote for him simply because he's a Mormon.

I shouldn't have been shocked when I found out that a large number– I'd say a vast majority – of Mormons are planning to vote for him simply because he is a Mormon.  Doesn't anybody use their brains anymore?  Hey, listen – I know a lot of Mormons, and there are some of them that I definitely wouldn't want for President.  But I feel exactly the same way about evangelicals.  As far as I'm concerned, a person's religious affiliation neither qualifies nor disqualifies him for the Executive Office.  I'm going to vote for a president based on his (or her) merits, character and potential for success – oops, I mean potential for leadership.

Anyway, have you all noticed this interesting phenomenon in the Republican race?

It seems like there's always a new rising star, a new challenger to the Mittster, who surpasses him in the polls and stays there for a while.  It could be a few days or, if they're lucky, a couple of weeks, and then they go diving down into the single digits.  Michelle Bachmann was the first, then Rick Perry, then Herman Cain.  And now it's Newt Gingrich's turn on the mechanical bull.  He's still up on top right now, I think, or at least sharing top billing with the Guv.

And what's Mitt's response to all of this?  Nothing!  He doesn't attack them, he doesn't do anything except follow his game plan.  What happens to his poll results?  Nothing!  No change, up or down.  He's always within a few percentage points of 21% or 22%.

My prediction is this:  Gingrich will fade over time, just like all the others.  A new challenger will rise up, and another one after that, and they will follow the same trajectory as all the others.  And maybe another one after that. One would think that the American voters would be a rational bunch, and go for the leader who shows the most consistency.  And believe me, Mitt has been nothing in this race if not consistent.  He's the natural choice, the logical choice, the only one whose numbers haven't seesawed up and down as time has passed.  But American voters have never been a rational bunch.  They'll vote for whoever's flying highest when their states hold their primaries, or when the convention is held in Tampa Bay in August.

(Not that I'm endorsing Mitt Romney or anything, but did you notice that nobody has mentioned how Mitt saved the Olympics?  In case nobody remembers, he was hired in 1999 by the Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee to salvage what was left of the 2002 Olympics, after it had suffered at the hands of incompetent and corrupt managers. He turned it from an abject failure into an overwhelming success.  I've read recent articles analyzing his business career before then, and analyzing his political career afterwards, but I haven't read anything recently about his Olympics career. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place.)


Ed note:  Originally, this post said "Franco Berlusconi."  Maybe that's Silvio's kid brother.