Sort of related to the melanoma thread about John McCain. I was wondering…what would happen at this stage of the race if McCain DID have to bow out? Would they need to re-run all of the primaries? COULD they do that? Or would they go back to where things stand with the Romster and the Huckmiester? Would they throw the race back open again or would they decide at the convention somehow?
I’m not a Republican (nor do I play one on TV) so I have no idea how they would handle such a thing. Do they have some archaic mechanism similar to the Super Delegates that the Dem’s have trotted out which will probably decide things between Obama and Clinton?
Couldn’t they just have an open convention in August? It seems too late to redo all the primaries, and who would want to go through that again? It would probably end up being Romney.
That’s not only the most likely outcome, its probably about the only one. Even if this sure sign of a just and loving God were to occur tomorrow, there isn’t enough time for a do over, when you consider the money raising aspect of it. Who would get McCain’s campaign money? Well, the nominee, of course, but who would have money to campaign for the nomination?
I don’t know enough about Bloomberg, but is it possible that he might want to throw his hat in the ring, or was he always thinking of a run as an independent? Megabucks vs Megabucks. That’s how we should be selecting our presidents!!
McCain’s delegates will still be seated at the convention, whether he drops out or not. At that point, it’s almost certain that he’ll have ‘kingmaker’ privileges: whichever candidate he endorses will likely be supported by his delegates.
Giuliani seems to be the closest of all the past contenders to McCain’s politics, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he endorsed one of the names being tossed around as potential Veeps for him: Crist or Pawlenty.
They certainly aren’t going to hold the primaries over again. If this situation occurs, McCain will presumably endorse someone and instruct his delegates to support that person. I’d say probably not Romney, since there was so much bad blood between the two during the campaign. My first guess would be Giuliani, since he agrees with McCain’s plan to continue the war in Iraq and possibly start more wars in the Middle East.
The factual answer is that the convention would be held, and the delegates would be free to vote for whoever they liked. If McCain endorsed a particular candidate before he joined the choir invisible, his pledged delegates would presumably take that endorsement under due consideration, but they would not be obligated to vote for that person. It would be a return to the old school conventions.