Saturday, October 06, 2007

No-Name Ties Rudy and Fred in G.O.P. Poll

The Rev. James Dobson has pronounced them all value-less in a New York Times OpEd no less, and Republicans of all persuasions seem concerned about their Presidential front runners.

In the oddest expression of discontent, in a “blind” Zogby poll based on anonymous bios, as many G.O.P. voters have just chosen an unknown Defense Department official as Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson.

When the electorate is as enthusiastic about nobody as it is about everybody on the ballot, the Party should be thinking about what’s missing in their field. To oversimplify, voters seem to be finding Giuliani shameless, Thompson listless, Romney clueless and McCain hopeless.

America’s Mayor, with 9/11 tattooed on his forehead, has been an attack dog on two continents, accusing Hillary Clinton of “spewing venom” when she politely questioned Gen. Petraeus, labeling her health insurance proposal “Hillycare” and otherwise acting like a schoolyard bully.

After hiding in the weeds for months, Thompson, the road-show Reagan, has crept out into the open, barely, to bore and confuse voters with his disdain for details.

Romney has as many stances on issues as dollars for TV commercials, but the party faithful are not buying in droves.

McCain is still showing up to jaw with Jon Stewart, apparently unaware that Daily Show viewers are not a prime demographic for the Republican primaries.

Less is definitely not more is this contest, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a boomlet for Dr. Ward Casscells, a conservative now assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who did so well in the Zogby poll. As an expert on pandemics, he just might catch on.

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