Save a quick look at lunch, I will be unable to follow any web coverage (and the wild rumors that accompany it and make is so much fun) tomorrow. Odds are, I will have to wait until about 9 or 9:30 (whenever the 5-year-old is forced to call it a night) to begin seeing and analyzing the numbers.
I do have some time, though, tonight at least, to reveal my hopes.
Many who, like me, are on the political right are hoping, praying, and begging for Mitt Romney to succeed. Yours truly will not be among them. At the risk of causing shock among my friends, I actually offered up a prayer for John McCain tonight.
I know McCain is the favorite, but I expect he’ll lose in California, and can only hope I am wrong (as I was regarding Florida last week). The way I see it, there are only three scenarios – a knockout blow by McCain, a strong win by McCain that will begin a long slog to victory, or the beginning of a Romney upset.
It was in contemplating this last scenario, which I still consider possible, that I realized just how important this decision is.
Look, Mitt Romney was a decent Governor and a fine Olympic organizer; but the man has simply hedged once too often for me to see him as a good wartime President – and American needs a wartime President. I might have bought Rudy; I certainly would have seen Fred as such a leader; and of course, there is no one like Duncan Hunter, but Fred and Duncan are gone, and Rudy wasn’t up to McCain’s level. Mitt, Huck, and Ron Paul certainly aren’t.
This election will be of dramatic importance. We are in the middle of an existential war against a determined foe. We have the upper hand (for now) in Iraq, but the Afghan front needs some work, and Pakistan is massive headache. At this time, we need resolute leadership, and a determination to win. Only John McCain has that.
So once again, as I did eight years ago, I am waiting for election returns with baited breath. To my fellow Republicans who are voting tomorrow (at least those who are still surfing the web at this late hour), please do not forget this.
Please vote for John McCain, as I will on the 12th.
