The GOP Race: None of the Above

MICHAEL DUFFY
Time
Thursday, December 13, 2007

Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Rudolph Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain on stage at the debate in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Chip Litherland / The New York Times / Redux

Republicans normally pour the same amount of uncertainty into picking a presidential nominee that Buckingham Palace puts into its Changing of the Guard. That is, as little as possible. Republicans prefer to find a brand-name, big-state Governor, surround him with the same right-thinking brains on taxes, foreign policy and the New Testament, back him with all the cash he will need to corner TV time in New Hampshire and then run the nominee through a quick gauntlet of primaries before anyone else has a chance at the prize. The whole thing makes for more of a ritual than a race, but there's no doubting that the formula works. In the past seven presidential elections, GOP nominees have lost only twice. ... ( read more )

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