The NY Times reports that Huckabee adviser Ed Rollins has declared an end to the Reagan coalition:
"It’s gone,” said Ed Rollins, who once worked as President Reagan’s political director and recently became Mr. Huckabee’s national campaign chairman. “The breakup of what was the Reagan coalition — social conservatives, defense conservatives, antitax conservatives — it doesn’t mean a whole lot to people anymore.” “It is a time for a whole new coalition — that is the key,” he said, adding that some part of the original triad might “go by the wayside.”
The very fact that the GOP has not settled on a front-runner yet, almost confirms we are in danger of losing the coalition. In fact, the candidates themselves seem to represent disparate segments of the splintering coalition, with Huckabee, of course, representing the social conservative sphere.
Still, I can't help but wonder if Rollins isn't a bit too premature. This is typical Rollins; very quotable, but not necessarily helpful to his client.
All along, Mitt Romney has wisely run as the only candidate who represents all three legs of the "three legged stool" that is the Republican coalition. For those of us who believe it is imperative to preserve the Reagan coalition, Rollins' pronouncement is almost an argument to vote for Mitt Romney.
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