Republican Primaries – An Expensive Spectacle

The 57^th quadrennial US Presidential elections are scheduled for November 6, 2012. It is assumed that it will have the currently in office, President Barack Obama for the Democrats, pitted against a yet to be finalized Republican candidate.

The state level primaries and caucuses have already aroused a lot of speculation and interest and has seen a lot of heated debates and discussion. Millions of dollars have been pumped into advertizing, that is both negative and controversial. The campaign is getting murkier and promises to get progressively worse as the margin of error between the Republican candidates is very small and leaves no room for error or complacency.

In the face of a stuttering economy, increasing unemployment, unending wars, increasing budget deficits and the resultant lack of faith in politicians, the selection of a Republican Candidate has taken on a special significance and the contenders are at it, no holds barred.

All the candidates believe and agree that it would be a colossal blow to their chances and a huge blow to their faces, if they were to lose in their home States.

Romney is targeting Gingrich and leaving no stone unturned to ensure that he does not win in Georgia. The group’s strategy is that even if Romney does not win here, a defeat for Gingrich to spell curtains to his campaign.

Newt Gingrich expressed his reservations that each of the GOP presidential hopefuls should be expected to win their own home states. He categorically added, “Any Republican candidate who does not win his home state would have a very, very badly weakened candidacy that would force questions as to whether that person should continue to campaign.” Gingrich acknowledged that he whilst he must win the March 6 vote in Georgia. If Romney loses in Michigan, “I don’t know see what he says the next morning to his donors to stay in the race,” Gingrich said.

Both the candidates are targeting one another in television ads that have cost millions of dollars. Mitt Romney’s “Restore Our Future” and Newt Gingrich’s “Winning Our Future” have dominated the airwaves, especially in the home states of both these candidates, Michigan and Georgia.

Restore Our Future is spending about $950,000 to air spots in Georgia. This was possible thanks to donors, like Marriott International Chairman JW Marriott junior, who has given the super PAC $750,000 to date. On the other hands Gingrich’s, Winning Our Future, which spent $9.7 million, is principally supported by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife.