they dream of a brokered convention

John Podhoretz [e.a.]:

If the exit polls hold up and Mitt Romney wins, that will mean three different Republicans have won the first genuinely contested state contests — Huckabee in Iowa, McCain in New Hampshire, Romney in Michigan. It is possible Fred Thompson will win South Carolina next week. And all these results make it even more plausible that Rudy Giuliani will hold on to win Florida two weeks from now, because there will be no frontrunner and therefore no one will benefit from momentum in the effort to prevail in Florida.

Five contests. Five different winners. All going into Super Tuesday. It sounds like chaos, but maybe it’s the best thing for the GOP, because the party is going to have to generate some kind of news excitement if its candidate is to have a chance in November.

Michael Cohen [e.a.]:

If the Mittster wins tonight you will have three contested primaries/caucuses won by three different candidates. With Rudy and Thompson still alive in the South the chances of a consensus frontrunner emerging on February 5th seems slim indeed. Let’s say hypothetically that Rudy win Florida or maybe New York and McCain, Romney and Huckabee split the rest of the states voting on the 5th. With no frontrunner, a brokered convention becomes a real possibility. And can you imagine Romney dropping out for the good of the party or McCain stepping down so his bete noire Plastic Man can get the nomination or the GOP establishment acquiescing to the Huckster?

Woohoo!

And why not? If the country is indeed looking for a change, let’s work through all the issues and put all the candidates through the grinder. Let’s make them work for our votes, damnit! And let’s show the young ‘uns democracy in action.