During his years as Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney essentially was a socially liberal and economically moderate Rockefeller Republican like current Mayor Michael Bloomberg. So what if Romney ran on his record as governor? There haven’t been any Rockefeller Republican candidates for the GOP for decades I think-the most leftish have been moderate conservatives like McCain or Huntsman.
What does Wisconsin have to do with this?
WI= what if? and the short answer to the OP is that he could never get nominated by his own party if he ran that way.
But he already has, more or less. After the convention, he will be free to tack to the left if he wants to. The question is whether that would win him more votes/states than it would lose him. For my part I don’t see the point – we already have a Rockefeller Republican in Obama anyway.
It’s not like a candidate can just shake an Etch-A-Sketch after he’s nominated and start over.
No Rockefeller Republican could be nominated for President. It’s not possible today. Heck, no true Rockefeller Republican could even win a first term in the House or the Senate.
I agree with the characterization of Bloomberg and I’m saying he couldn’t serve in the national legislature as a Republican.
Once upon a time there were moderate Republicans in Washington. And during the 1950s - 1970s there were liberal Republicans. Examples include Jacob Javitz, Kenneth Keating, Irving Ives, Mayor Lindsey and of course Nelson Rockefeller.
The MA state legislature and the current U.S. congress are not alike. If Romney ran on his record as governor, Democrats would vote for Obama and Republicans would have nominated Rick Santorum.
Funny, just today I was musing to myself about some alternate universe in which Romney basically says:
“Hey, Obamacare is a great idea–it was called ‘Romneycare’ when I invented it, before Obama borrowed the idea from me. Anyway, elect me, because this guy Obama is clearly in over his head; meantime, I know how to successfully implement a solid Republican health care reform plan like Romneycare, plus I can use my business experience and my political experience with holding executive office (governor) to provide the kind of moderate, pragmatic, centrist leadership this country needs to turn things around.”
Of course, such an Alterna-Romney would never have gotten the nomination. If he tried to tack back to the center in the general election to that extent, he’d lose his own base (and Obama supporters probably wouldn’t really trust him either). And if he somehow won and tried to govern like that, the Republicans in Congress would probably be just about as obstructionist to him as they are to Obama.
Also, in the alternative universe where Romney is actually running on his record, the Alterna-Democrats would probably be campaigning for single-payer.
Does a party have any recourse (other than dropping all support and letting the candidate tank) if a nominated candidate bucks the line and does something like this?
Is there a way to impeach a candidate? Can the party simply declare that they no longer like the candidate and go with the runner up?
Well apparently Ron Paul has been quietly snatching up all of the delegates and is going to upstage Romney at the convention.
</sarcasm>