Friday, January 11, 2008

The Republican civil war (contd.)

Several people have suggested, only half-facetiously, that it's mathematically impossible for any of the Republican presidential candidates to win the nomination, since each of them is strongly disliked by sectors of the party that add up to more than 50% of Republican primary voters. Some support for that analysis is provided by this video (via Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo), which is worth watching.

(For the record, I think it's safe to predict that the Republicans will nominate someone in the end. But it is quite possible that whichever guy becomes the candidate, he will continue to face active hostility from unreconciled zealots in one or more of the Republican Party's main constituencies.)

--Jeff Weintraub