Mitt dis-mitts

I was thinking that the Super Duper Pooper Scooper Tuesday primaries hadn't really decided anything ... until I saw CNN claiming that Mitt Romney has "suspended" his campaign:

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win."

[ ... ]

Suspending a campaign has a different meaning depending on the party.

On the Republican side, decisions on how to allocate delegates is left to the state parties.

On the Democratic side, a candidate who "suspends" is technically still a candidate, so he or she keeps both district and statewide delegates won through primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates are always free to support any candidate at any time, whether the candidate drops out, suspends or stays in.

National party rules say that a candidate who "drops out" keeps any district-level delegates he or she has won so far but loses any statewide delegates he or she has won.

Having had Multiple-Choice Mitt as governor for four years, this is probably good news for the Republican Party. Romney has demonstrated a willingness to literally say anything that would help him get elected. And, as Governor, he was the latest in a string of disastrous heads for the Massachusetts GOP; in the 2004 elections, he spent millions of dollars on ads to get more Republican state legislators, and ended up with a net loss of seats.

On the other hand, this leaves Huckabee (who, AFAICT, is a devoted Christian Dominionist) as McCain's only real challenger. Not a pleasant thought.

Mitt dis-mitts

I was thinking that the Super Duper Pooper Scooper Tuesday primaries hadn't really decided anything ... until I saw CNN claiming that Mitt Romney has "suspended" his campaign:

Mitt Romney suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, saying if he continued it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win."

[ ... ]

Suspending a campaign has a different meaning depending on the party.

On the Republican side, decisions on how to allocate delegates is left to the state parties.

On the Democratic side, a candidate who "suspends" is technically still a candidate, so he or she keeps both district and statewide delegates won through primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates are always free to support any candidate at any time, whether the candidate drops out, suspends or stays in.

National party rules say that a candidate who "drops out" keeps any district-level delegates he or she has won so far but loses any statewide delegates he or she has won.

Having had Multiple-Choice Mitt as governor for four years, this is probably good news for the Republican Party. Romney has demonstrated a willingness to literally say anything that would help him get elected. And, as Governor, he was the latest in a string of disastrous heads for the Massachusetts GOP; in the 2004 elections, he spent millions of dollars on ads to get more Republican state legislators, and ended up with a net loss of seats.

On the other hand, this leaves Huckabee (who, AFAICT, is a devoted Christian Dominionist) as McCain's only real challenger. Not a pleasant thought.