The crisis of identity within the heart of the US Republican party has sharply intensified with the victory in the Michigan primary on Tuesday night of Mitt Romney - a result which has thrown the race for the presidential nomination wide open and left the party mired in confusion about the way ahead.
The Michigan result leaves the Republicans with no clear frontrunner and none of the momentum from early races that traditionally drives a candidate towards the finishing line. The first three major elections have had three separate winners - Huckabee in Iowa, McCain in New Hampshire and now Romney in Michigan.
"The race has moved from a sprint to a marathon," the chairman of the Michigan Republican party, Saulius Anuzis, told the Guardian.
All eyes now turn to Saturday's Republican primary in South Carolina. But even in that southern state the party appears to be in the mood more for a muddle than a coronation. Both Huckabee, the ordained Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, and McCain, senator for Arizona, are vowing they will win.
Romney, McCain, Huckabee and Fred Thompson were all out on the stump throughout the state yesterday. South Carolina is the first of the contests to be held in the South and the state has a reputation for political brutality and dirty tricks. An early taste came in a flier being distributed by a group calling itself Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain claiming he betrayed his fellow PoWs during his years in jail in Hanoi.
Huckabee said he would "put a flag in the ground here Saturday", while McCain used his concession speech on Tuesday night to declare that "starting tomorrow, we're going to win South Carolina".
No comments:
Post a Comment