AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

THE LAST TWO STANDING WILL BE NEWT AND MITT.

By the time the Oklahoma Republican Primary rolls around, it will be down to these two.  Ron Paul may still be hanging on, but by then he won’t really be a serious contender. 
    
Newt Gingrich is head and shoulders above anyone else in the race intellectually.  In terms of pure brain power, he has a real grasp of most issues.”  In fact, he has a grasp of every side of every issue because, at one time or another, he has been on it.  In my view, the “New Newt” seems to be on the “right” side of most issues.

There is absolutely no doubt that he would wipe the floor with Obama in a debate.  For all his flaws—and who does not have flaws—he has both an historian’s and a working politician’s grasp of issues.   I don’t agree with him on every single issue but I think he could make the changes needed to turn this nation around, and I believe he has a passionate love of America.

Which leaves us with Mitt Romney; sure-and-steady, a man who has had the political misfortune of actually changing his mind over the years, largely because he ran as a Republican in one of the most Democratic States of the Union…and won!

Romney is very presidential looking, intelligent, and a very well qualified candidate, having succeeded in both politics and business.  Some people are still bothered by the fact he is a Mormon.  To that I say “we are electing a President, not a pastor”.  Let’s also give him points for having lived a moral life as a good husband and father.  He has made it this far without a single major gaffe, but Romney increasingly gives the impression of being robotic.  He is locked into his political game plan and talking points, and it has worked for him up to this point.  It may get him the nomination.

Of the two, Gingrich is just more fun to listen to as he speaks, without teleprompter, citing Jefferson and Lincoln, quoting the Declaration of Independence, reminding us why the first Americans fought a Revolution.  Gingrich has already made some history of his own, wresting control of Congress away from the Democratic Party in the mid-1990s.  He could very well do it again.

I think the Iowa primary will give Gingrich a win.  I think the New Hampshire primary will give Romney a win.  After that, who knows?   When the day comes to make my choice, I will pick the one I feel has the best chance to send Obama packing.   Because then, and only then will America’s future begin to improve.