Ok…so the first draft of the title of this post was, “ding, dong romney is gone!”  However, after a quick second thought, it occured to me that the title was not really in harmony with the spirit of this blog.  But it was sure tempting to just write the title that was the initial impetus of this post! 

 With Romney out of the presidential race, that leaves McCain and Huckabee as the only two potentially viable candidates left to head the ticket for Republicans in November.  This likely bodes well for Utah Democrats because more Pubs will probably stay home.  General elections tend to bring out more voters, which will no doubt be true this year given the huge crowds of primary voters thus far.  But as a proportion of the voting electorate, I will predict that the Republican turnout will be far lower than it might have otherwise been if Romney topped the ticket.

 Now Democrats, we aren’t out of the woods just yet.  If Hillary Clinton tops the ticket for the Dems, I predict there will be a groundswell of Republicans (certainly the ones in my family) who will turnout in droves just to vote against her.  I am an ardent Hillary supporter and have endured the flack from my family and friends (even my dem friends who say Obama is the only choice for young people).  So I think that offers me the street cred to say that Hillary would be bad for Utah Democrats down the ticket.  She stirs the Republican ire in the same way that Rocky Anderson and Hillary’s husband before her did.  It gives the Utah GOP something to label as with that resonates with mainstream Utahns and diverts them away from Utah Dems on the ballot.

I, for one, was looking forward to the days of Becker and Corroon (and Matheson and other Utah Dems) putting a solid, credible, and honest face on the Utah Democratic Party, one that would satisfy the particular palate of mainstream Utahns. 

 So bring on McCain, and if it can’t be Hillary, then Barack will do just fine…and let’s take the Salt Lake County Council and break the supermajority in the Legislature…We can do it! (Rosie the riveter for Hillary)   Yes, we can! (for Barack).

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