Mitt Romney saves his presidential dream in Michigan
New York. Mitt Romney (photo Daniella Zalcman) won his first major “gold medal” in the race for the White House on January 15 2008 in Michigan. The former Massachusetts governor won the Republican presidential primary with 39% of the vote. He defeated Arizona Sen. John McCain (30%), while Mike Huckabee finished in a distant third place with 16% of the vote. After two disappointing second places in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this month, Romney carried his native state and saved his presidential bid to set the stage for a three-man race in South Carolina on January 19. During a short campaign in a state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate, McCain and Romney clashed over the loss of auto manufacturing jobs. The Arizona Sen. warned voters that it would be naive to think that these jobs would come back to Detroit. His opponent sharply disagreed and promised to fight for blue-collar jobs. In Michigan, former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee kept trying to woo evangelical voters and said he want the U.S. constitution to match God’s standards: “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, he told an audience. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.” Mr Huckabee’s win in Iowa on Jan. 3 attributed largely to evangelical support and the former Arkansas governor knows that roughly half of the voters expected to vote on Jan. 19 in the South Carolina Republican primary are considered to be Christian conservatives. At a church service in North Spartanburg last Sunday, the former baptist reverend told a congregation how he accepted Jesus into his life when he was ten years old. South Carolina is a much more favorable State than Michigan for Huckabee. For Romney, who benefited from his ties to Michigan and from his good image on economic issues, winning in the conservative South will be hard. Tennesse Sen. Fred Thompson is looking for his first win in South Carolina while former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has been virtually invisible so far. For Mitt Romney, who has poured some $20 million of his personal fortune into his presidential bid, Michigan was a make-or-break state. The Detroit native, 60, campaigned far more than his rivals and spent more than $2 million in TV ads in there. It was nearly three times what McCain did, according to the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network. Jean-Cosme Delaloye / New York CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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