Monday, January 14, 2008
The Rudy Strategy [Rich Lowry]
We now know two things: 1) No, his national lead wouldn't hold up under the stress of poor showings in the early states. McCain's national surge shows how the best way to boost your national numbers is to win early states; 2) His lead in Florida wouldn't hold up under the stress of those losses either. He is now slightly behind McCain in the RCP average there. But there's one thing we don't know: 3) Will the field stay fractured in precisely the way Rudy needs to try to make a comeback? It won't if McCain wins tomorrow and wins South Carolina. It will if Romney wins tomorrow and if Fred or Huckabee wins South Carolina.
Finally, a lot of people have been awfully hard on Rudy's strategy, but remember: he tried in some of the early states, and especially in New Hampshire and it just didn't work for him. This was the only strategy that was left. As the only option, it's the best option.
01/14 04:12 PM
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