Can the republicans candidates skip the primaries and just agree on who will run?

Politicians (of any party) agree? Not likely.

Things change. The front-runners will be different by the primaries.

Between Gingrich and Romney? Gingrich didn’t even do his homework to get on the ballot in Virgina, a big state (Primary-wise), and and HIS OWN state (am I right on that one?).

We want to vote for someone who can’t even handle a primary campaign to help with the country?!

Pathetic.

The way things have been going, I don’t think we’re going to have anything definitive until the end, Ron Paul, Gingrich, and Romney. . .

I think lots of people will be surprised regardless of the outcome.

I’m not a Republican, but I think Romney would have a better chance then Gingrich! He would get more of the independent votes especially from the older generation. IMHO Gingrich has too much baggage following him from the past. It will be a tight race against Romney, But Obama will win it! ; ) Please don’t shoot!! ; )

THat’s not the American way. Decisions like this are supposed to be made by the vote of the electorate, either in caucuses or in primary votes. Sure, they could meet and shake hands in a private room, but that decision would be forever suspect.

Open primaries and elections, no matter what the flaws, are still better than a completely opaque process.

Since the political parties are not actually arms of the government (but more like private clubs), and primaries and caucuses (while publicly funded) are more like meetings for these clubs where they decide who will run the club, they could. But they won’t. Part of the point is to drum up support from the base. And people tend to support things more when they have some buy-in, or a stake in the process. Plus, at least this year in the GOP race, it’s comedy gold.

Put simply, there is still monetary gain within both parties.

I don’t think anything shold be taken for granted at this point. There could be a twist in the primaries that you don’t expect, you never know. This is not the time to just skip things, the time to have skipped things was the last six months of bullshit, so many debates, the same thing said over and over again. It all starts to early, and so I guess you are alraedy tired of it all. This is not a criticism of the Republicans, all political races drag on too long.

I have ignored a lot of the debating of the Republicans, only catching a few minutes here and there and what the media has dwelled on. I am only just about to really start paying attention. I’m a Democrat, but once the Republicans pick there guy, I will be very interested to hear him out, and consider him if he lines up with what I want on some key issues.

If it is Romney, I am hopeful for the very thing the Republican right wing dreads, that he move back towards the middle on some issues.

The race is obviously between Gingrich and Romney

Just as a few weeks ago it was obviously Cain and Romney.

After it was obviously Perry and Romney.

After it was obviously Bachmann and Romney.

And as @mrrich724 points, Gingrich is not making a serious effort. Maybe, like Palin, he’s just selling books and speaking engagements before his 15 minutes is up.

And you know who’s polling first in Iowa? It’s not Gingrich or Romney.

@jaytkay I think it’ll be Gingrich vs. Obama in the main election. Call it a hunch.

What, and give up all the opportunity of appearing in public and voicing their opinion of the day? Nothing is going to be settled until after all the primaries and polls are done. There’s a long way to go and more people to be heard from.

Regarding “just agreeing on who will run”, that is exactly what the primaries are.

Gingrich???? Gingrich is an old school Johnny come lately at best (and at worst a wild card that could actually get Obama re-elected if the GOP is idiotic enough to actually put him up as the Republican candidate).

If anything, it should be a race between Romney and Ron Paul. Paul is actually ahead in many of the caucuses. Alas, he gets basically zero press since he is a party outsider.

So rather than letting the people in the party that they will represent have a vote/say, you want them to just choose somebody? Hmm, seems awfully un-democratic.

I think Romney will probably end up winning the primary, but I think it is far from obvious. There have been a lot of ups and downs.

I personally think that Gingrich would be one of the least effective people for the job.

Yep, I think that the only election that matters is the actual presidential election. The republican primary is just a way for the GOP to pick the leader. If it’s down to two, or three, fine, then that’s it…the other four could suspend their campaigns. (In case someone quits/etc.)

Wow @YoBob… Somebody actually said the “RP” word… Imagine That!

I’m convinced more than ever that popular media has hypnotized people into ignoring the truth

All year long, the Republicans have shown that they are very much undecided who they want as their candidate. The way things have gone, if you entered the race now, you might have a chance of becoming front runner. This is definitely one contest that the public should decide.

With all due respect for your choice, I think Gingrich is one huge slimeball. He cheated on the woman with whom he cheated on his wife. Holy cow! He worked for Freddie Mack and Fannie Mae while they were doing their mortgage shenanigans. He was forced to resign when he was speaker of the House. In an atmosphere where people are distrustful of Washington insiders, you can’t get any more inside than Newt. The one advantage that he has is that he can talk circles around the mental lightweights he is running against. As much as I would like to see him torn to shreds by Obama in a debate, I think that the Republicans will settle on Romney.

@LostInParadise everybody has a past, including BO.

What we’re concerned about is our collective future! Gov’t growth is not how the future will be won… That is exactly what BO’s leadership will create.

Mitt Romney will be like George Dubya’s Kerry…detached, above the fight, disconnected at an essential level, that everyone can easily see. Ron Paul will come off like an OBGYN.

This fight is between Gingrich and Obama. Two thinking men whose ideals are respected by their bases. ding-ding

@jaytkay It’s Ron Paul!!!! The man I will vote for.

I know Fluther is too liberal for that to be a popular comment, but I said it anyway, LOL

The race is obviously between Gingrich and Romney.

Step back a second, and examine your assumptions.

I agree that those two are the most likely to win.

But how did we even get to the point of being able to make that judgment?

After all, there was a point when it seemed that Rick Perry was far stronger than any other candidate, and that Gingrich was totally irrelevant, a joke.

We only got to this point by actually doing the hard work of observing the candidates as they slog through all this, month after month.

If we (the candidates and the media and you and I) hadn’t taken all that trouble over a long period of time, it’s anyone’s guess whether Romney and Gingrich would be seen as the ones on top.

So in short, it’s fine to feel confident that one of those two will be the nominee. But that isn’t some eternal truth. It has only gradually emerged as the truth (and still not a certainty) in the specific context of a fiercely competitive contest, complete with polls, donations, negative and positive ads, debates, stump speeches, candidates greeting voters in diners, etc. There is no way around this long, grueling, vigorous competition. If that competition didn’t happen, you wouldn’t even know which candidates were the real front-runners.