“Rick Perry’s monumental collapse is Herman Cain’s opportunity. Can he pull it off, though?”
“Can’t believe I am ranking him this high [third].”
Newt Gingrich
“Keep an eye on Newt. Perry and Romney may get into a negative nuclear-attack mode and destroy each other.”
“Newt’s attraction is that he’s now the only contender standing who isn’t viewed as a politician. Go figure!”
Jon Huntsman
“If Republicans are going to go for someone who could win, they might eventually wake up and decide that Huntsman is more consistent than Romney and ideologically more to their liking.”
Others
“Many candidates enter and exit the top tier with momentum not seen even two or three weeks before it happens. Santorum has yet to see his moment, and it’s not unlikely that he’ll catch fire at some point before December. Whether he sustains it is another story altogether.”
“Chris Christie in a ‘Draft Christie’ movement at the convention.”
“Paul Ryan would be the emergency convention choice. Remember the late Wisconsin primary.”
Methodology: In tallying the rankings, a first-place vote was worth 5 points, a second-place vote was worth 4 points, and so on. The Insiders index reflects the percentage of points that each contender received out of the maximum possible. For example, Mitt Romney scored an index rating of 98, meaning he received 98 percent of the possible 525 points, the number he would have if all 105 participants in the poll this week had ranked him first.
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Behind the Rankings
Percentage of first-place votes
Romney: 90%
Perry: 8%
Gingrich: 2%
Percentage of second-place votes
Perry: 69%
Cain: 15%
Romney: 9%
Gingrich: 7%
Santorum: 1%
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Who would be the Republicans’ strongest presidential nominee in 2012?
Democrats (101 votes)
Mitt Romney: 70%
Jon Huntsman: 19%
Rick Perry: 5%
Jeb Bush (volunteered): 2%
Newt Gingrich: 1%
Buddy Roemer: 1%
Colin Powell (volunteered): 1%
Romney
“Romney’s the only one to run a reasonably competent campaign. Everyone else is competing to win the Fred Thompson Award instead of the nomination.”
“At this point, the nomination is Romney’s to lose. If he can get it, he’ll be a tough opponent for Obama, even though he is a phony flip-flopper.”
“All others have either disqualified themselves already or are in the process of doing so.”
“Unfortunately for my party, this isn’t 1964 or 1972. The Republicans know they have a good chance to win, and they won’t blow it by casting Mitt aside.”
“While Romney certainly isn’t a tea party favorite at the moment, by November they will have fallen in ‘like’ with him, given that the alternative is Obama.”
“Romney keeps holding steady while the rest of the field takes turns getting hot and flaming out. A tortoise to all the other hares.”
“Best actor wins. Romney has pretended to be a conservative, and can easily feint back to the center for a general election. There is no ‘center’ for the other GOP contenders.”
“He can talk and chew gum at the same time, which puts him way ahead of the other candidates.”
“Romney is the only one who isn’t a total reality-TV choice. Although, give him a few more debates, and he may get there. His moves to the right have been ham-handed and sophomoric.”
“He’s polished, poised, and battle-tested, and he can allege some kind of economic mastery because he made tons of money at Bain Capital.”
“He’s starting to look more presidential, which should scare the White House.”
“Everyone else gets our base out in droves. If Romney can get the Republican base out, he’ll win. He’ll appeal to independents and some disillusioned Democrats.”
“Independent suburban voters are more likely to support Romney.”
“He would be the best general-election candidate, but there is a problem with some of the Republican base. He would need to make that up with independents, which he could appeal to best.”
“I think it’s Romney, but the one thing that gives me pause is that he does not excite the base. Exciting the base is critical today.”
Huntsman
“He won’t get nominated, but he would still be stronger than the rest of the weak field.”
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