What the 2012 GOP convention means for Romney | Buzz Blog

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What the 2012 GOP convention means for Romney

Posted By on May 12, 2010, 2:06 PM

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Now that Salt Lake City has been snubbed for the GOP’s 2012 convention, it’s worth asking what this decision means about the Republican Party’s 2012 game plan.---

So if we look at the finalists between Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Tampa—it seems clear that the value of Florida as a swing state is a top consideration.

Given the recent controversy over Arizona’s recent controversial immigration law that Phoenix just didn’t stand a chance. Which means Utah was most likely snubbed just because the state’s too reliably conservative.

It’s an interesting question whether or not that impacts Romney’s OUT LOUD secret campaign for the White House in 2012. On the one hand Romney accepting a nomination in the city that owes him for saving the 2002 Olympics would likely be as loud and raucous as a Jazz playoff game.

Does that mean the GOP site pickers are expressing a lack of faith in Romney for 2012? He is after all shaping up to be a little too establishment for a lot of the tea partiers it seems, what with his whole healthcare mandate in Massachusetts looking a lot like Obamacare with the requirement for citizens to have health insurance. Add on top of that the fact that Romney’s recent convention endorsement of Bennett couldn’t even kick the senator into second place, and Zion’s adopted son%uFFFDMitt looks even less a likely contender in 2012.

But really for Romney it doesn’t mean much more than that. If he wants the nomination he’ll have to get there now by his own hands, feet and millions upon millions of dollars—just like all the other candidates. As for what the symbolism of Tampa means, above all else, it’s that the GOP knows they need to put the pressure on swing states.

With health care reform now souring a lot of the independents that gave such a tremendous victory to Obama in 2008, it’s clear that republicans are focused on winning back the fence sitters.

This, sadly, does not include the fair state of Utah.

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