With poll numbers and public opinion
changing on a daily basis, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick
Santorum strike like gladiators on a battlefield of debates and primaries. It
is hard to keep up with what’s going on, especially when the candidates seem
more concerned with exposing their rivals’ weaknesses than discussing the real
issues and objectives of their campaigns.
The debates may look like a fun fair
to the untrained eye. So many of the pursuers for the nomination make elaborate
and vague sentences designed to confuse the listener.
First of all, these are the
Republican candidates. All of their views are encompassed on the conservative spectrum
of politics; one can find that the candidates agree in a lot of the issues. They
differ, however, on the methods and procedures the government should take to
get there.
Mitt Romney, a man who, as reported
by CNN, has spent almost as much of his own money as his rivals combined, tries
connecting with people by saying that his wealth should be an inspiration of
hard work. However, his personal wealth is one of the largest barriers between
him and middle class voters. Pretending
to be an average Joe, he intends to get the Republican nomination by appealing
to the undecided. Romney swings with the tide, changing his stance every time
it benefits him, adapting to the situation, this way he hopes to get a better
scope of voters. Truth is, this makes him look more like a flip-flopper than a
skillful contender.
Rick Santorum, in Jon Stewart’s
words, is “The man Romney is pretending to be.” Santorum is a hardcore
conservative, settled at the far right of the political spectrum. He promotes
all the values that extreme social conservatives hold dear and sacred, though
his openness about social issues is not very well received by more moderate
Republicans.
By remaining strong on his values he
intended to capture more Republican voters and “outnumber” Romney. He was the
strong-minded one, but when polls and debates started looking bad he stepped
back and ceased expressing his opinions as strongly, thus letting go of the
thing that set him apart.
Newt Gingrich is philosophically positioned
between Romney and Santorum, as far as ideals go. He’s hoping that by remaining
moderate on his opinions, he’ll manage to win the vote of the moderate and a
fair share of the more liberal and more conservative voters. His campaign
suffered for his personal choices and his popularity went down after the
December 2011 scandal regarding his marriage. The fact is, he comes across weak,
not only on the political field, but also on his personal battles.
The only exception may be Ron Paul, whose
policy of shutting down the Department of Education makes him radical. He seems
to be neither here nor there and he disagrees with the other candidates almost on
everything. Although he stands separately as the only different candidate, he
has not made a good impression during the debates, succeeding only in enabling
Romney. He’s the candidate that hopes to get everyone else’s vote.
According to the Website Real Clear
Politics, –which picks up polls from different websites to compare them– of all
the candidates, the one that polls higher against Barack Obama is Romney. Following
the Michigan primary, everything looks like he will be the Republican
presidential candidate. Santorum,
who had stayed under the radar, is coming in strongly and might make a big
difference on the upcoming primaries if he manages to escape his fellow runners’
attacks on the debates.
Some speculate that this question of
the republican candidate choice is all going to be hashed out on the Republican
Convention that is to be held in Tampa Bay, Florida in August. A name that
hovers on the political skyline like a stray feather floating in the wind is
Sarah Plain’s. With no clear statement to declare whether she’ll respond to
this draft call to be the strong and powerful candidate only she believes she can
be. The question remains, if this maverick will be the hope for the Republicans
who’re not convinced by the other candidates, or if she’ll stay in Alaska
keeping an eye on Russia for us.
(Article written for The Habit -Dominican University of California student paper-)-C.R.A.
