Dear Mitt (and John and Mike and Rudy and John),
No matter what happens later today or later this week or in Florida, stay in the race. I know you have all said that you are in it till the bitter end. Stick to those words. American politics needs it.
Gov. Romney, today the pressure is most clearly on your back. Iowa and New Hampshire weren’t “silver medals” as you called them, they were most definitely cow pies. And now, in your home state of Michigan, you are facing another big fight from John McCain.
Your donors and the pundits are all saying that this is make or break. Another cow pie and it is all over.
Say no to this kind of thinking because it is this kind of short-term momentum-driven politics that allows the kind of crappy politics that defines this age. No one is willing to run the race through till the end.
I don’t say this because I am a big fan of your candidacy. Your negative ads, your heartless stand on immigration, your lack of mercy in denying parole to anyone during your term as governor, among other things turn my stomach. That being said, your recent focus on your track record as the cliched agent of change has been much better and much more believable.
I write this because you and the rest of the candidates represent something. You represent the candidates who don’t just get out of the way for the sake of “party unity” whatever that is.
The thing is the longer the race goes the more candidates are going to have to focus on substance. After a while all the dirt and crap and innuendo play themselves out and we are left with politicians who have to talk about what they actually believe and why. Who knows, if things go long enough we might actually see some real debates.
And who knows, you might just win. 1,032 delegates are up for grabs after Super Tuesday. There are big states like Texas and Pennyslvania and small states like Kansas and Idaho. Contest each of those states. There is time to do so. 756 delegates are up for grabs between March 1 and June 3rd.
There are big things to be debated and discussed and the longer the campaign goes the more time there is to discuss those things. You guys have been running for president for an awfully long time already. Don’t stop now.
David