Formspring Question #383--No White Knight Riding Out of a Brokered Convention Edition

What are the chances of Paul Ryan or Marco Rubio coming out of a brokered convention as the republican nominee?

Next to nil.

Even if Mitt Romney does noy get to the required 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination, he will be closer than anyone else. That will give him a lot of clout even if he releases his delegates and engages in a free for all with everyone else who wants to be the nominee.

Romney has the backing of the elites, too, and those elites are afraid of looking weak by not having a solid nominee in place by the convention. More than likely, that means some pressure is going to be applied likely to get rid of Newt Gingrich and put Rick Santorum on the ticket to make sure Romney is the nominee before the convention or, worst case scenario, quickly arranging it during the convention to avoid the 24 hour news culture covering the convention exposing the Gop for an even bigger dysfunctional family than it already is.

I doubt the powers that be would risk nominating Paul Ryan or Marco Rubio because they have already said no to both the presidency and veep. It would be disastrous if convention delegates got excited about either one, but their choice refused yet again. I can see one of them becoming Romney’s running mate anyway, particularly if Santorum’s ego makes him uncooperative, but I cannot see either of them becoming the White Knight who saves the party.

Quite honestly, if there is a brokered convention, whomever comes out the nominee is going to look like such a weakling, the election is probably already lost. The Barack Obama campaign is going to constantly be on the attack, and when his opponent is already someone the republicans have no faith in, he will never gain his footing against the negative barrage. Any support he gets from Republicans will look like a defense for a candidate we did not want in the first place. Frankly, you should hope the nomination is wrapped up quickly even if the nominee is going to be Romney. The alternative is even less desirable--believe it or not.