On Facebook this morning, one of my relatives

[MineralMan]

proclaimed her support for Romney. She lives in NH. Immediately after her post, someone who is apparently to the right of her posted:

"Romney = Obama"

This is a clue to the nature of the GOP side of the election, and is very good news for President Obama. The right hates Romney...almost as much as they hate Obama. I smell a third party on the right coming.

[TheManInTheMac]

1. I think you've hit the nail on the head.

[mopinko]

2. i think paul will run.

his ego is getting pumped up bigger by the minute.

[racaulk]

5. I think you're right.

That second place finish last night is sure to encourage Paul (and his supporters) even more. Paul certainly has the financial backing to stick with this nomination process for the long haul, and if he has a solid second place finish in the end, I can easily see him running as a third party candidate.

All of which is definitely good for us.

[NYC Liberal]

10. He hasn't before because he hasn't done as well.

But only because it wasn't strategic. If he thinks he has enough support, I don't doubt he'll do it.

[rbixby]

3. Well hopefully the Romney haters will stay home in november NT

[MineralMan]

4. That, too, would be a good result.

[bigwillq]

6. Who do the hardcore GOPers want

and who do they think can beat Obama?

[MineralMan]

7. I have no idea. The person just posted

Romney = Obama.

[bigwillq]

9. I don't know either.

I think many GOPers don't like Romney but they also think Romney is the only one that can potentially beat Obama.

[Irishonly]

8. I am still hoping the republicans will have a brokered convention

I am going to keep hoping for a free for all convention until I see the idiots holding hands and singing "Happy Together".

[NYC Liberal]

11. IMO Democrats should do everything to fracture the Repugs

Push the meme that Romney is no right-wing conservative, and cement the idea among the right wingers.

But he's also no liberal. He's just an opportunist who will say anything to get elected. He's an unknown quantity. Right-wingers don't know who he'll appoint to the Supreme Court (they won't want to risk a Stevens) and neither do moderates, who won't want to risk a Scalia.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. The key to defeating Romney in the GE is by sowing "uncertainty" about him.

We don't want moderates or indies (or even conservative Dems) to feel "okay" with voting for Romney- thinking that he is not really that much different than Obama but might be able to "manage" the economy better and that he will likely govern more as a centrist (like Obama). We DO want them to be concerned about whether Mitt will govern hard right or be in thrall to the teabaggers/birther/extremists within the GOP. OTOH we don't want to make conservatives/teabaggers to feel "comfortable" or, worse, "enthusiastic" (though there's little chance of it) with Mitt either. We DO want conservatives/teabaggers to continually second-guess just how reliably Mitt will champion their causes if elected, who he will appoint to SCOTUS, etc.

This SHOULD be pretty easy to do given that he's been, literally, all over the map politically during his entire political career- going from tacking far left on abortion and gay rights in 1994 all the way to trying to be a Tea Party groupie in this election. I tend to believe that, if we were to peel him to the core, he is actually a pretty moderate guy- more likely to govern like he did in Massachusetts- and that his hard-right turn in the GOP primary has been just because he needs to go there in order to win. However, he has flip-flopped (speaking of a lack of "leadership" ) so much just within the course of this campaign thus far that any average person would have a hard time trying to figure out how Mitt might govern as POTUS on any given day and that is something that we should NOT want in a POTUS. Additionally, I have a hard time envisioning President Romney poking the Tea Party in the eye and/or not being cowed by them.

[NYC Liberal]

13. Yep, that's the key: he's not a conservative, but he's nothing else either. He's an "unknown."

Who knows where he'll stand once he gets into office? Who knows who he'll appoint to the Supreme Court?

"Unknown" will scare off both the tea bagger Republican base and moderates. Tea baggers will be scared he'll govern as a moderate; moderates will be scared he'll govern as a tea bagger.