By, Caryn Freeman
With the emergence of the New Year the Republican
presidential field finally extracted a clear front runner. Mitt Romney has made his way to the head of
the pack in the Republican Party’s bid to retake the White House in 2012.
Although Rick Santorum and surprisingly Ron Paul, who came from the back of the
republican pack to win second place in this week’s New Hampshire primary with
23% are not too far behind. These candidates seem to be heading for the
Republican nomination finally answering the question we’ve all wondered for
months now. Who will Barack Obama be running against in 2012?
The favorite Mitt Romney goes into South Carolina, which
holds its presidential primary in just under two weeks on January 21st,
with momentum and a growing number of delegates. Romney is essentially the John
McCain of four years ago markedly on his way to winning the republican
nomination. The question is will it be a trifecta for Mitt Romney? South
Carolina is a much more conservative state than Iowa or New Hampshire and there
seems to be a struggle between the Republican Party wanting a traditionally
conservative candidate and wanting a candidate that has a chance to beat Obama
in November. Romney said in his victory speech Tuesday night in New Hampshire
that, “the president has run out of ideas and now he’s run out of excuses.”
Romney criticized the president for losing America’s AAA credit rating and
passing Obamacare which added billions to the national deficit.
Mitt Romney maintains his highest priority as president will
be saving jobs for the average American. Insinuating the president has spent
the past three years working only to save his own job. Independent voters who
supported Obama in 2012 have begun to question some of the administration’s
policies and stimulus programs. When Solyndra the solar panel manufacturer in
California filed for bankruptcy last August just two years after receiving a
$535 million dollar tax payer funded loan and it was later revealed that George
Kaiser one of president Obamas biggest campaign donors in 2008 invested $340 million in Solyndra. Some
say that’s when the Obama administration began to show signs of classic Washington
cronyism. Republicans and independent voters have also questioned what some call
pandering to special interest groups with measures such as bypassing Congress
on immigration policy and making immigration reform a priority when there are legions
of problems Americans face, some of which seem to be less of a priority for
this administration.
These issues have republican and independent voters asking
how the Obama presidency has improved their lives in the past three years and
asking why no one in the White House seems to be interested in hearing them. Mitt Romney is on the march with two wins but
it seems that none of the other republican candidates are conceding at this
point. This only helps Romney move closer to the nomination. Romney seems to
have found a devoted following. With five republican candidates still in the
race splitting the remainder of the republican base this makes it nearly
impossible for another candidate to rival Romney’s mounting lead.