THE JUNGLE REPORT

Well, now that we have Iowa and New Hampshire out of the way, it’s still not clear, who the front runner is. And, as expected, they are all posturing themselves to be closest to conservatives and proclaim to be Reaganistas. It seems, the base is not going to get their ideal candidate out of this field. Lots of compromises are going to be made in selecting any of the candidates running. Let’s look at the top 4.

Huckabee: He certainly emerged out of nowhere. But, when you look at his record in Arkansas, there seem to be a lot of questions. He looks to be weak on immigration. He pardoned or played a role in the release of many hard criminals. These two facts alone are enough to scare many conservatives. Then when you find out that he also raised taxes, expanded government, …

I like the fact that he is a social conservative and will protect life. But these days, that alone is not enough. Although he seems to be saying the right things in his commercials here in Michigan, we’ll see how he comes out.

McCain: Having won New Hampshire, he certainly has momentum going into Michigan. Looks like Michigan is going to be a 3-way battle between Huckabee, Romney, and McCain. Which means again a no-clear winner.

McCain is another with a dubious record of supporting liberal causes. He supported the Shamnesty bill. He will always be remembered by me as part of the Keating 5. Most have forgotten about that, but I haven’t. He also padded his resume by being one of the Gang of 14. Another black mark in my book. He didn’t support the Bush tax cuts. He has an image of being closely aligned with Kennedys, Feinstiens, etc… This is a little too much for me to take. I really believe that if McCain wins the nomination, that will definetely put a Democrat in the White House. Enough said.

Romney: He is the candidate I liked the most, after Huckabee, but he’s flip flopped the most also. It seems that even with all the spending, he’s not convincing the majority. Partly because of his Mormon faith. To me, it’s not his faith, but his record does not look all that clean. If he comes out on top in Michigan, I think he will get stronger, after losing in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Giuliani: What can I say about him. He seems to be playing the rope-a-dope of politics. But it may be too late for him. He has lost all his momentum. Personally, I question his judgment on many of his decisions. On supporting Cuomo, on providing sanctuary to illegals, on Kerik, on girl friends … Needless to say, the leadership he showed during 9-11, is trumped buy his mis-judgments in other areas. I don’t think he’ll get anywhere, unless he blows out everyone in Florida.