I don't even want to talk about HRC, the DNC delegate controversy and potential lawsuits. The whole thing has been handled pretty miserably and, unless there is a brokered convention, those delegates are going to be seated anyway.
No, I'm interested in the R results and what the media coverage will look like going forward. First, let me say THANK GOD that Giuliani got smoked and is withdrawing from the race. There was no one more fundamentally ill-prepared for the Presidency and no one who would put the country at greater risk in the race. Second, I'm extremely interested to see how the media handles this McCain victory. When I went to sleep, he had a four point edge over Romney, with Giuliani and Huckabee both capturing mid-teens percentages. As I shut off the TV, talking heads were saying this was a big win for McCain, which no doubt it was.
But because the press loves McCain, I have to be careful with my words. McCain needed to win FL to keep the race going. He is nearly out of cash. A Giuliani was bound to exit and a Romney win might have been enough to put Huckabee on the ropes. McCain has not gotten a majority of "conservative" or "Republican" voters in any contest to this point. Had it turned into a two-way race between him and Romney, this trend would be unlikely to change, with Romney serving as the establishment candidate and without lower tier candidates syphoning votes.
But with the win in FL, McCain is hardly unstoppable. He still needs to raise money, fast. With Romney still in it, are establishment conservatives like to shift money from him to McCain (who they traditionally hate)? Seems unlikely. Romney was running second or first in most of the Super Tuesday primaries before FL, with Giuliani sucking up a lot of votes in places like NY and CA. Will McCain win all of these votes? No. A majority? Maybe. Either way, with 6 days to go, this R race is hardly over. I'm curious to see how the press covers it for the next week.
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