A plain blog about politics: Palin and Playing By the Rules

A plain blog about politics: Palin and Playing By the Rules

Again, this is how nomination politics works. For all one hears about efforts to market candidates to mass electorates (that's what things like the "authenticity" debate are all about), the bulk of nomination politics is retail, not wholesale -- and the customers candidates are trying to reach are a relatively small group of party elites. It is not, to be sure, only party officials...it's a fairly large and usually evolving group; it includes not just formal party officials, but also leaders of party-affiliated groups, campaigning and governing professionals, activists, and politicians. That's more like thousands, not hundreds, of people; it's only the dreaded "establishment" if the term is used very loosely to mean anyone with a long-term commitment to party politics, and even then both parties are at least somewhat permeable to new people and groups.

Trots for Romney everywhere semi-agree that these same realities, when brought to bear on Governor Tim Pawlenty, will cause his ultimate defeat. Religious folk shall march with Huckabee, and party chairs will cluck for Mittens. TPAW must pass between the Scylla of Jesus maniacs and the Charibdis of organized banking in order to clear a path, and to build a tent, pour le victoire. The odds, one must admit, are long.