According to the report, there's talk of a Romney v. Mitt debate on the horizon:
Guerriero explained that the impetus for the debate was this: Romney has long been presumed to be the nominee. But with Gingrich surging in the polls, why shouldn’t the Republican base get a chance to see the two top candidates go toe-to-toe?
“No disrespect to any of the other candidates,” Guerriero said, but given the state of the country, the economy, and the race to date, if Romney is to be the nominee, "he needs to go against the best debater with the deepest understanding of policy both domestic and foreign, and that appears to be Newt Gingrich.”
This isn't a disrespect to the other candidates, it's an insult to the voters. I've been a Republican for over two decades now. I've given money to dozens of candidates and different levels of the GOP hierarchy. I've worked on campaigns and put stickers on my car which, in retrospective, were idiotic (How did someone named "Dick Lugar" ever think they'd have a political career?) I resent the suggestion that Ron Paul is not party of the Republican Party. Granted, he might not be a stalwart of the neocon movement which took the reigns of the GOP after September 11th, but his Goldwater views of governance are very much a Republican tradition.
I hope they find a way to have this debate on the 19th. I am scheduled to be in Washington that week and will make certain I attend. If Ron Paul's not there, at least one of his t shirts will be. Maybe I'll even smuggle a balloon into the auditorium and let that thing loose.
Incidentally, you might have heard about the DNC's new "MittvMitt"website. MittvsMitt.com was taken, but I bought MittversusMitt.com and have redirected all of the traffic. Go to MittversusMitt.com to my proud work.