- Posted by Christopher Estep on January 16, 2008
It's hard for Romney. Even though he was the front runner in delegates, he kept getting painted as someone who's lost repeatedly and was therefore less relevant than Huckabee and McCain. Now at least Romney has a little momentum, though that will be lost in SC, which he has said he is going to skip.
Who was the biggest loser in Michigan? Well, it wasn't McCain, even though McCain won it 4 years ago. No, the biggest loser was Huckabee. Any momentum he had is gone, gone, gone. South Carolina becomes a must-win state for him as well as Thompson.
What's ahead? Florida just got a lot more interesting. Florida's snow-bird population comes from both New England (particularly NY) and the midwest (particularly Michigan). The voters in Florida that came from Michigan are older and will remember Romney's dad, so the name recognition help continues. With Rudy being so cash-poor that they asked 12 of their senior staff to work for free and Romney having absolutely no money problems, this is going to be a battle royal. Expect Florida to start tightening up immediately.
What else? South Carolina will be won by Fred Thompson (or very close). Huckabee's star is falling like a stone and Thompson's on the rise with fundraising going well. I predict that Huckabee will become irrelevant after SC though he won't quit. McCain will also become less relevant as it becomes clear that he can't win Republicans and the only way he can get primary delegates is if non-republicans vote.