What if GOP picks "None of the Above"?

So what if Mitt Romney loses Michigan, the place where he grew up, the place where his Dad was not just governor but a POPULAR governor who was thrust into politics after saving American Motors, the auto company that he once headed?

Well, you can take this part to the bank: Romney's people (if he loses) will play it down, his opponents will play it up.

But what will really matter is what we'll be hearing from other Republicans.

My prediction is you'll hear a chorus of voices calling on people like Jeb Bush, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, and the man we heard from earlier, Chris Christie, to rethink their decisions not to run, they'll be urged to get into the race.

Would they? Could they? I don't know about would they, but could they - and have a chance to win? The answer is yes. It's a long shot but they could.

There are 22 contests where the filing deadlines to get on the ballot in states are still open. Those states don't provide enough delegates for a late starter to get the nomination, BUT a late comer who got a big part of the delegates could probably stop any of the current candidates from wrapping up the nomination before the Republican convention.

Now this is a guess - clearly labeled - but if Republicans get to their convention with no nominee, I'll predict they'll pick someone other than those in the current field.

Why? Because if we've learned anything from this race, it is that Republicans have a red hot, burning fervor to beat Barack Obama - but it is a fervor they have not yet matched for any of their current candidates.

Who knows? We may be just getting started with all of this.

[windrider160]

The Republicans simply never like any of their choices. We heard the same loud droning whine in 2008. They started out with 13 candidates, and since nobody really liked any of them, McCain sold his soul and won by default, only to lose the general election. It's even worse this time around, and a brokered convention would not make things better. Most likely, Romney will survive by default, pick the 2012 equivalent of Sarah Palin as his running mate, and still lose in the fall because by then, even the independents won't trust him not to sell out to the Santorum wing. Meanwhile, yet another good and decent Republican (Olympia Snowe) is throwing in the towel, and will not run for re-election. The Party has been throwing every good politician capable of actually governing under the bus. To the extent that there actually *is* such a thing as the GOP establishment, they know their party is going down in flames but they lack the spine to do anything about it.

And it may be too late.

My parents were both fourth-generation Republicans, and they'd be turning in their graves to see what has happened to their beloved 'Party of Lincoln'. By cultivating and mollifying the extreme right wing for 30 years, the GOP 'establishment' has purged the party of any sane membership or genuine conservatism, leaving the inmates in charge of the asylum. We saw how much damage these mullahs did in the House last year, and I don't think there's much national appetite for handing them the keys to the White House and our nuclear arsenal. For better or worse, it's going to be four more years of Obama. The least we can do is give him a majority in Congress so he can at least get a few things done, instead of the paralysis the Tea Party wing plunged us into. Being a senior citizen with a boatload of health issues, I don't think I'll live long enough to get a decent Republican candidate to vote for again in this lifetime. It just gets worse every electoral cycle.

[addict42]

I think the GOP will play the hand they have and just figure we'll sit out these next four years, esp. if Santorum becomes the nominee and he takes the entire party and all it's congressional candidates down with him. If only the party hadn't become one of extremist insanity, then they'd have a shot.

[noloyalisti]

You really do have to be insane to support that party now.

[valjean7]

If ballots included a NO option it would be clear that Republican voters have little or no supportive interest in those candidates currently seeking it. Claiming someone with 35% (for example) of the votes is the winner seems a stretch. Many in that 35% were really voting against another rather than the one they voted for since the yes only ballot denies their ability to vote how they really feel. The highest net yes wins...knowing they have less than a mandate.

[noloyalisti]

When the time comes all the Republicons will rally around their candidate no matter how bad they are.

[valjean7]

noloyalisti: A NO option would let them vote against Obama, helping their candidate win but without endorsing whoever it is. They would endorse the party, not the person, and the result would far more honestly reflect voter sentiment. What's wrong with being able to vote how your really feel...

[baf827]

In my state when I go to the poll to vote all the ballots contain a WRITE IN slot, when faced with a slate of candidate(s) and there is noone worthy of my vote I write in myself, stopped voting for the lesser of two evils that way no candidate ends up with votes that were not truly votes for that candidate. Try it and we might see more truly relective numbers in the results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[magnumdr]

It would be nice to pick a person that is "one of the people" That way we would have sombody that knows our everyday life and what really knows what we need!

[noloyalisti]

You would need to get all laundered corporate money out of politics and take back the government from the Top 1%.

[newz4me]

Jeb Bush? Mitch Daniels? Chris Christie? Vetted? Me thinks GOPers are looking for some more WMDs.

[daffy64]

Palin/Cain 2012!

[Jaylah54]

I don't think the GOP can find a candidate to unite their party, and as long as they're so fractured by the "Christian" Taliban and TeaBaggers, the can't unite.

Any candidate centrist enough to beat Obama isn't going to be extremist right-wing enough to satisfy the "Christian" Taliban and TeaBaggers.

Any candidate radically right-wing enough to satisfy the "Christian" Taliban and TeaBaggers, isn't going to be able to carry the GOP base.

[Raptorsmasher]

Exactly!

[RangerDan107]

Time for the GOP to release a statement: Oh hell, nevermind!

[qyeteye]

Why should America be continually punished with incompetent or at least disliked Republicans who distort reality to fit their myths and evade responsibility for their part in the outsourcing and destructive deregulation?

[rwsmith29456]

I'm not impressed with any of the GOP candidates but take anybody over Obama.

[omnibus66]

but take anybody over Obama.

You left out the word "white".

[RangerDan107]

Why would anyody sane do that?

[valjean7]

If the ballot included a NO option you could vote against Obama without implying support for the GOP candidate. The same holds true for anyone else who is more interested in a particular candidate being defeated than who defeats them. The highest net yes wins.