Primary fever has gripped the country and millions of Republicans are still fighting for their presidential nominee. With the caucuses in full swing, a clear front-runner for the Republican nomination has emerged — Mitt Romney — with 104 pledged delegates.
Romney, who was the 70th governor of Massachusetts, has been viewed as the least "Republican-like" candidate since day one of the primaries. Republican politicians and citizens alike have targeted him as not conservative enough and as a candidate that will do or say anything to become elected.
While in office as governor, Romney was seen as a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat due to his politics.
In 2006, Romney proposed and signed into law the Massachusetts Healthcare Bill which gave every Massachusetts citizen healthcare coverage.
In 2007 Romney unveiled his own version of the National Healthcare Plan, which followed the same suit as the Massachusetts plan in the previous year.
However, Romney's plan allowed the individual states to tailor the reform to their unique needs. His 2007 proposal is what President Obama followed when creating the current National Healthcare Reform.
Romney's healthcare reforms are only the tip of the iceberg for the Republicans that see him as too liberal, though.
In 1994, while debating with Sen. Ted Kennedy, Romney was quoted saying that he hoped abortion would be safe and legal regardless of one's personal beliefs. Later in the campaign he was also spotted donating to Planned Parenthood. When Romney's support began to dwindle in 2005, he was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying he was pro-life, though he believed that states should be the ones to decide legislation.
In coming out and changing his political position on abortion, Republicans tagged Romney as a politician who swings his policies in the direction of the most votes.
Although Republicans see Romney as a fair-weather politician, Democrats see him as pragmatic because he was a Republican governor with a Democratic legislation and still managed to get work done.
However, Democratic politicians see him more as a threat because he is such a liberal Republican.
Obama is counting on the independent votes that are still unclaimed by either party. If Romney wins the Republican nomination then Obama will most likely lose a majority of those votes because Romney is such a moderate candidate.
But the real question is what the Republican voters will do if Romney wins the nomination. Will they vote for him even though he's not seen as fit for the job?
Democrats already seem to know who they will be supporting in the ring. But if Romney wins the nomination, Obama needs Republican voters to not cast a ballot or he will most likely be voted out of office.
— DeJoie is a freshman from Concord, N.H. with an undecided major. features@thedepauw.com