Thread: G.O.P. Hopefuls Take Varying Paths in Wide Open Race

G.O.P. Hopefuls Take Varying Paths in Wide Open Race

By MICHAEL COOPER and MICHAEL LUO
The race for the Republican presidential nomination remains remarkably fluid, with important constituencies like evangelical voters having yet to settle on a candidate, and the late entrance of former Senator Fred D. Thompson generating little excitement.

With the state of play so unsettled and Republicans still grappling with the political implications of the Iraq war and President Bush’s weakness, the leading contenders are plotting out strikingly different road maps to the nomination.

Mitt Romney’s senior advisers met recently in Boston to present him with a blueprint for the next four months centered on what some call a kindling strategy — the belief that early victories in places like Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire will make him impossible to stop by Feb. 5, when a crush of other states vote at once. He has spent heavily on advertising and building field operations in the early states, gambling that he will have enough money to hold off later onslaughts by competitors who have so far spent more sparingly.

The Thompson campaign, by contrast, starts from the premise that the unsettled early primary season and the lack of a clear front-runner have created a chaotic race that they can capitalize on, despite a bumpy start that left some Republicans wondering if Mr. Thompson was fully prepared and engaged. Theirs is a “red state” strategy that calls for Mr. Thompson to do well in Republican strongholds in the South and Midwest that are awarded bonus delegates under the rules of the Republican convention.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, meanwhile, continues to pin his hopes for the coast to coast primaries on Feb. 5 — when, his aides calculate, he can win as many as a third of the delegates. But he has been increasingly drawn into competition in the early states, as evidenced by a New Hampshire Republican leader who reported getting seven mailings from his campaign this summer.

And Senator John McCain’s campaign, short on cash, is weighing whether to accept federal matching funds, which would limit what it can spend, but could allow it to capitalize on its recent successes by broadcasting television advertisements in its must-win state, New Hampshire.

G.O.P. Hopefuls Take Varying Paths in Wide Open Race - New York Times

How curious the New York Times must have forgotten to include Ron Paul...

Yet they included John McCain despite the fact that his campaign is pretty much dead.

Differing paths? Sounds to me like they're all taking the low road. BTW, why WASN'T Ron Paul included? Isn't he a republican?

Wow, look at the image the New York Times used in the original version of the article. Is this a pathetic joke on the NY Times' part?