The Maverick Meets the Establishment

Check out McCain's well-received and instructive speech delivered moments ago at CPAC.

A Timely Retreat

Fox News' is reporting that Romney decided to withdraw from the race while writing his speech last night. Apparently Romney realized his campaign would cause division in the Republican party and allow a Democrat to win.

I give him credit for withdrawing with grace. There was some conjecture that he'd leave the race at CPAC. His speech showed perhaps the greatest level of sincerity I've seen from his campaign. My only two caveats are these: (1) Although it is certain that evil exists, I am always concerned when politicians point to "evil" enemies of the United States. (2) I am as yet unconvinced of Romney's conservative conversion. It still strikes me more as practical politics than a change of heart.

Having said that, I admire not only the enormous effort he put into the campaign, but also the sensitivity and style he showed in leaving it.

The Definition of Breaking News

While the lead news photo on Yahoo! still shows Romney headed into a strategy session "vow(ing) to stay in the race," The Washington Post is reporting that he's about to drop his bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

Uber-Priorites

Please excuse my lag in posting on UberDuber Tuesday. February 5, 2008, marked the closest thing the United States has ever had to a national primary. It also contained my first test of the semester and the deadline for my first design project ever. Plus I had the sniffles. (OK, it's a sore throat, body ache and earache!)

That's right: The dog ate my analysis.

But here's a quick sketch 24 hours out from the close of polls on the West coast:

not surprising -- the near 50/50 split between Obama and Clinton
somewhat surprising -- Huckabee's spectacular Southern returns
worth noting -- McCain's rhetorical shedding of underdog status
also worth noting -- Clinton's purported fund-raising woes

I will not outright agree with Huckabee's statement that it's a two-man race that includes him and excludes Romney. But the new refrain for non-Romney Republicans may well be "spend it all." Romney has the money and Huckabee has the support for each of them to stay in virtually indefinitely. And showing a Reagan-worshiping audio video production at CPAC will not open all conservative arms to embrace McCain.

Huckabee's aggressive campaigning against Romney may deepen the Republicans' conservative divide. McCain can also be divisive, but there are few who will argue that he's not genuine. We will see if he can rise to the level of leadership that will be required to shepherd post-9/11 politics to a place where reasonable debate is possible.

Mullings' 50 Percent Prediction

Check out Rich Galen's February 1 cybercolumn.