Does the GOP have a front-runner? Or a mess?

The Associated Press

Romney finally got his gold. Now what?

Featured Topic | Posted 44 weeks 3 days ago

Does the GOP have a front-runner? Or a mess?

The man whose father was once governor of Michigan won that state's primary, giving him a much-needed win in the race for the GOP nomination. And his aides are proclaiming his "Mitt-mentum."

But Romney is only the latest candidate to score a win in the nominating contests; Mike Huckabee won Iowa, and John McCain won New Hampshire.

Who can emerge as the leader of the pack?

Ben likes: McCain’s Failure in Michigan

John Podhoretz/Commentary's Contentions

Mitt Romney’s victory in Michigan is a testament to his remarkable elasticity. Having spent two years running as a social conservative, which he is not, he decided a week ago to run as a businessman reformer. It didn’t carry him over the threshold there, but it evidently has in Michigan — where, among other things, the Republican candidate seems to have made wildly un-Republican promises to use the powers of the federal government to restore, through some mystical spell, automotive-industry jobs to the suffering state.

Romney may not have won in Michigan so much as McCain lost it.

Joel likes:Mitt Romney, president of Michigan

Mike Madden/Salon

Now Romney is once again moving on from Michigan, just as he did when he left the state for school, a career, a family; for life, basically. By beating McCain here, he kept himself in the race and kept the field wide open. Three different candidates have won the first three contests.

To hear him tell it, Romney won in Michigan because voters are finally sick of a broken Washington. He's the candidate of the future, he says, not the pessimism of the past. But if his path to the White House is going to stretch longer than his father's did, Romney needs to prove he can keep winning -- even when the race moves to states where no one keeps the family's old memorabilia lying around.