RNC Winners & Losers

Now that the three days of conventioning are done for the Republicans, let's see what the aftermath holds.

WINNER - Women - Ann Romney, Condi Rice, Kelly Ayotte, Nikki Haley, Mia Love, Mary Fallin, Susana Martinez, Kerry Healy... Several women speakers for the GOP and most of them did a great job.  It just emphasized how weak the "war on women" mantra is.

LOSER - Vice-Presidential short-lists - Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty, who'd been considered the top two candidates for the veep spot, came out with awkward jokes and speeches that easily eliminated them from the 2016.

WINNER - RNC Organizers - The three-day affair was well-produced, tightly-run, and as good an event as the GOP could have hoped for.

LOSER - RNC Rules Committee - Last-second rule changes to silence Ron Paul delegates will not soon be forgotten.  I know many Republicans were upset and felt hijacked when states that voted for Romney but the elected delegates were actually Paul supporters, but they can't be happy with the shocking power-grab that took place that first night.  I know in Utah, the election over national delegates is going to be much more closely contested.

WINNER - 2016 - If Romney loses the election, this past week has shown the Republicans have a deep diverse bench.  It's almost jarring that the 2011 freak-show was what it was when you consider who else is in the party.  Most of the women I mentioned above, plus Rubio, Christie, Cruz, and Ryan are in great positions.  Also, there's a little documentary out right now called 2016, the most successful right-leaning doc ever.

LOSER - 2012 - The Obama-Romney race has thus far been the most oddly disconnected gaffe-obsessed non-informative race in history.  And the mud's only going to get slung harder from here.  It's been dog-on-the-roof/Obama-eats-dog silliness.  I expect the Democrats to mount a large anti-LDS push soon. (Not the Democrats. An "independent SuperPAC.")

WINNER - CSPAN - Showing all the speeches in full is great for someone like me.  I could turn it on in the background while I was working.  No cutting way to talking-head pundits during actual speeches.

LOSER - MSNBC - Where to start?  They had a narrative they wanted to push, and they did it.  They did their best to paint the GOP as racist but they were the only ones to not show Artur Davis's speech.  Everything anyone said at the convention, you had an MSNBC pundit twisting like a pretzel factory worker that what they said was codified racism.  Chris Matthews has never looked angrier or frumpier.  Any Republican guest they could get on the show, they'd berate and shout at. (Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker handled the Sharpton-Schultz-Matthews gamut quite well.)  And yet, Chuck Todd let it slip that the Democrats wish they were as diverse as the Republicans.

WINNER - Mia Love - She was behind in last week's polls to overthrow Jim Matheson, but donations to her campaign skyrocketed immediately after her speech.  If she wins, she'll be the first black Republican congresswoman in history.  And she's a Mormon.

LOSER - Todd Akin - Right after he won the GOP nomination, he said the dumbest phrase of the year. "Legitimate rape"?  No one wants him to stay in the race.  Well, except he's tied with Claire McCaskill in the polls.  Wow, how bad a senator is Claire McCaskill?

WINNER - Clint Eastwood - Yeah, I said it.  I watched his speech.  He was employing a comic device, and some of it was funny.  Some of it may have made him wished he wasn't ad-libbing.  Republicans love him; some Democrats still do.  Some far-lefties just overplayed their hand. (Ebert called it "sad and pathetic." Really?)  Eastwood's name brought ratings, and hey, he has a movie opening next month, not to mention inspired a new internet meme.  You could call him a loser if you're approaching it from a potential future Oscar nominations angle.

LOSER - Chuck Norris - No longer the most famous actor willing to throw himself behind conservative candidates.  See also Jon Voight.

WINNER - Mike Huckabee - I think the last of the lingering wounds of the 2008 primary race were healed by Huck's speech.  And Huck deserves to have his radio show be the one that finally topples Rush Limbaugh.

LOSER - Sarah Palin - She wasn't invited to the convention, and then Fox News cancelled their interviews with her.  Her future is reality shows and punditry, but her political career looks dead.

WINNER - Ann Romney - Most potential first-lady speeches buoy their husbands.  I remember Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain in 2008, and Laura Bush, and Tipper Gore... I can't say Teresa Heinz Kerry did her husband any favors.  Ann did her job well, and if someone as likable as her loves Mitt, why can't we?

LOSER - Jon Huntsman Jr. - Big mistake by him to refuse to attend the convention and condemn the party.  He could have worked on changing from within, and he's quite skilled at giving speeches (much better than he is at debating).  I can tell you he's alienated a lot of Republicans in Utah, which is too bad. He would've made a good senator.

WINNER - Jeb Bush - The video with 41 and 43 was warmly received, but the former Florida governor came in person and he did great.  I could hear hearts breaking everywhere that he wasn't the Bush that ran for president in 2000.  I know I've thought about it more than once.

LOSER - Foreign policy - It was barely addressed over the past three days, and John McCain pumped us with fear that Syria and Iran need to be dealt with immediately.  Shoot, we could be in four wars this time next year?

WINNER - Paul Ryan on TV - Great speaker, photogenic, charming, knows how to deliver a phrase. His faded Obama poster line was great.  The rhetoric is there.

LOSER - Paul Ryan on paper - He voted for all those government-increasing bills he now decries.

WINNER - The theme of "are you better off than you were four years ago?"

LOSER - The way-overplayed theme of "we did build it!"

WINNER - Mitt's human side - Mitt Romney, you can tell, is an introvert and not blessed with that natural political ability of instantly connecting with large groups of people.  But having character witnesses speak for him revealed a man humble about the nice things he does.  It's hard not to be moved by the friendship he struck with the boy dying of cancer.

LOSER - Mitt's speech - It was no more specific than Obama's "hope and change" speech from 2008, but Obama's didn't have to be.  I think Mitt needed to do more with it, have something for people to be talking about through the weekend.  I'm not going to remember much beyond the story of his dad giving his mom a rose every day.