Five Thoughts on Tonight ...
A few thoughts on the state of the race ...
1. The race is wide open because they keep taking turns winning. What's next, Fred Thompson wins South Carolina?
2. For this same reason, Rudy Giuliani is also a winner tonight. He is very much alive, and benefits from McCain's failure to win tonight.
3. I think John McCain's "straight talk" about jobs not coming back to Michigan has proven to be unwise. Exit polls showed voters cared a lot more about the economy than they did about the terror, the war, etc. Mitt Romney gave Michigan voters optimism and hope; McCain didn't. That was probably the fundamental difference between the two candidates. In addition, I was also wrong in thinking that the fact that Hillary was the only Dem on the ballot would increase the number of independents voting in the Republican Primary. It turns out, there were far more independents voting in the GOP Primary back in 2000...
4. What happened to momentum??? The Big Mo has become "the little mo". Can anyone say "bandwagon effect?" Apparently not any more. Frankly, I thought the condensed primary schedule would make momentum more important. Instead, it seems to be less important than ever. Fred Barnes speculates it has to do with the new media, and he may be right. I also can't help but think McCain took Michigan a bit for granted after New Hampshire...
5. A week ago, John McCain was celebrating a victory; It was short-lived. South Carolina and Nevada are right around the corner. And Florida isn't far behind. Mitt Romney should learn the lesson from McCain and Huckabee -- that he can't count on this victory leading to a significant bounce.