Romney rolling right along

Romney rolling right along
Two weeks after technically winning the evangelical Family Research Council (FRC) straw poll in Washington, DC, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is rolling right along in the Republican primary for United States president.

Behind but ahead
Though he is behind Rudy Giuliani in the national poll according to Realclearpolitics.com, he is leading in Iowa by 13.5 points, 8.0 in New Hampshire and .3 in South Carolina--the three most important leadoff primary events. How has Romney done this?

Diligently and shrewdly
For a year now, he has invested time, money and ideas in his campaign for president. He has plenty of money, time and ideas but he has also been shrewd. He has advertised early, put out the necessary time and money during critical moment while also building an impressive organization, especially here in South Carolina. His economic acumen is only matched by his political shrewdness.

Shrewdness snatches a big win
During the DC FRC straw poll, he received strong support by attendees but not compared to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. A reliable source told me that Huckabee would win the straw poll by an overwhelming margin.

After the final vote was cast, Romney snatched victory from Huckabee by 30 votes out of almost 6000 cast.

Though he lost the attendee or on-site vote by almost 5:1, he came from nowhere to take the overall straw poll which accepted off site or online voting. Romney's shrewdness is evidence by Facebook email titled "2008 American Values Straw Poll: To members of Students for Mitt." Then it encourages supporters: "Please visit fraction.org and vote in the American Values Straw Poll by this Saturday. October 20 at noon EDT."

Mormon Romney takes evangelical vote
This last minute effort and other timely efforts allowed Mormon Romney to take the evangelical vote home.

At this moment, with Giuliani and Thompson getting a broadside from Dr. James Dobson, a prominent evangelical leader, and losing some steam, Romney seems to be swimming upstream diligently and shrewdly toward victory in the primary. After also being "rejected" by Dobson, he spoke admiring of Dobson and evangelicals during the FRC event which honored Dobson, and came away with a technical "KO" (knockout).

Getting along swimmingly
In a New York Times piece, Greenville (S.C.) County Republican chairman Samuel Harms said, Romney is running the ablest campaign. And after picking up Bob Jones, III's endorsement, the evangelical American Center for Law and Justice director Jay Sekulow and others, Romney is rolling right along. Or, as our British friends would say, he is getting along "swimmingly."

Update for November 7, 2008:
From Newsmax.com, conservative leader, Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation and who was the first president of the Heritage Foundation and instrumental in starting the Moral Majority, endorsed Mitt Romney as the presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

According to the Associated Press, Christian conservative leader and former presidential candidate, Pat Robertson, president of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Regent University and host the 700 Club, endorsed Rudy Giuliani as the presidential nominee of the Republican Party.