History favours Romney in Republican race
...You might call it, "The Inevitability of the Second Place Elephant." Simply stated, here's how it works. You may not have noticed, but Republicans ALWAYS nominate the candidate who finished second in the last great nomination struggle.
This has been the case throughout the modern era. Flash back to 1976, when presi-dent Gerald Ford narrowly held off Ronald Reagan, in the last time a nomination was decided at a convention.
Four years later, the party turned to Reagan, after he fought off a spirited challenge from former CIA director George H.W. Bush.
Bush served loyally as Mr. Reagan's vice-president for eight years, then won the nomination for himself - after overcoming a challenge from Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. Eight years later, in 1996, it was Bob Dole's turn. That race was different in that Dole didn't really have a major challenger for that nomination; the other two men in the race, Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes, were not major figures in the Republican Party. So four years later, the GOP did the next best thing: They turned to a familiar name, if not face: George W. Bush, the son of the former president. After losing some early primaries, including Michigan's, he managed to overcome John McCain.
Guess who got the nomination eight years later?...