Inside the Capitol

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

8-13 No-Brainer to pick Susana

81312 Susana speaks

SANTA FE – Susana Martinez's selection as a national GOP Convention speaker was an easy call. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is doing poorly among women and minorities. The choice of three women of color gives him a big triple punch.
Condoleezza Rice finished the Bush era as secretary of state. She was a public favorite for the veepstakes but that would have encouraged talk of two unpopular wars. Rice won't mention war in her speech.
Nikki Haley is Governor of North Carolina and East Indian. She is quite popular but was connected with talk of dalliances in her gubernatorial campaign. This will keep that out.
Both Govs. Martinez and Haley are only 17 months into their first term as governors. That comes too close to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the surprises and readiness to be president scales.
These three women can give Romney a big boost on nomination night. They are sure to be on prime time and likely soon before Romney's acceptance speech. They'll add considerable interest and energy. Expect to see them on Romney's campaign trail too.
Other speakers invited in the first round were 2008 presidential nominee John McCain, former Arizona Gov. Mike Huckabee, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Florida and Ohio are two of the most important swing states. Everyone was chosen for a vital purpose.
Among those who didn't make the first list is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is speculated to be the keynote speaker. Christie is a stemwinder but he often goes a bit further than the cautious Romney would approve. If Christie does speak, his remarks will be closely vetted.
Somewhere among those not invited to speak – at least yet – is the vice-presidential nominee. Among these are Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio
Sen. Rob Portman, Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindall.
More speakers will be named the first bloc chosen were the super stars. These also were the good speakers. The remainder may find themselves in less than prime spots.
There are people the campaign owes for work done or for willingness to have their name tossed around so many times. Some speakers will be from among Romney's competitors in the lengthy primary election. He doesn't want to lose their support.
One of those prior opponents, who will cause many hours of agonizing consideration, is Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Why did he stay in the race so long when he hadn't won a single state? Actually he still hasn't conceded and thrown support to Romney.
That's because Rep. Paul wants something. He'd like the opportunity to address the world from the convention podium just as Gov. Martinez will be doing.
He handled himself well in the primary election debates. But what might he say when he gets the big mike? Might he say something about the folly of wars? Or the war on drugs?
In case you have forgotten, this is same song, second verse. It all happened four years ago. Dr. Paul was shut out of everything. He had raised considerably more money than he needed through Internet solicitations.
So Ron Paul rented an auditorium just down the street from the GOP convention and conducted his own convention. The news media, bored to death with GOP platform debates, sent reporters down the street to cover Paul's activities. One of Paul's conventioneers somehow got into the GOP gathering with a big sign and disrupted the beginning of McCain's acceptance speech.
This year, the national GOP has decided to be a little nicer to Dr. Paul. They have put some of his people on the platform committee. They found a place for Paul to hold a rally nearby. They haven't made the jump to a convention speech yet. But Rep. Ron Paul has some extra ammunition this time. His son, Dr. Rand Paul, now is a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Might Rand get a chance to speak?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home