Can anyone bring the Republicans together again? The victory by Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary on Tuesday night means three very different states — with dissimilar electorates driven by distinctive sets of priorities — have embraced three separate candidates in search of someone who can lead the party into a tough election and beyond President Bush.Romney won in Michigan, the state where he grew up, with a pointed focus on the slowing economy, which voters overwhelmingly identified as the top issue there. John McCain of Arizona won New Hampshire last week with the backing of independent voters, who are so influential in that state. And Mike Huckabee of Arkansas won the Iowa caucuses powered by social conservatives who make up a substantial part of the population there.On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown — This is a party that is adrift, unenthusiastic about any of its presidential candidates.Even in victory, Romney stood as evidence of the trouble the party finds itself in. He won, but only after a major effort in a state he once expected to win in a walk. More than any candidate in the Republican field, Romney has made a conscious effort to reassemble the coalition of economic and social conservatives. Romney’s difficulties have highlighted the strains in that coalition, and a central question about his candidacy is whether he will be able to rally its fractured components to his side.“The problem for the Republicans is they all have part of it,” said Lou Cannon, the Reagan biographer, referring to the conservative movement. “Huckabee has the social conservative part of it. Reagan had a lot of draw among independents, and McCain has stepped into that. And you have the conservative Wall Street types who are with Romney.”Speaking of Romney, Cannon said: “I don’t know how you put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but certainly he has tried to do it.”Indeed, no other candidate has tried as hard as Romney to stitch the ideological fabric of his party back together. He shifted positions on some social issues with an eye to winning the allegiance of social conservatives.He presented himself as particularly tough on national security, calling at one debate for expanding the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. He emphasised his background in business and his support for tax cuts and limited government to appeal to economic conservatives.Reagan and Bush were able to get different parts of the Republican coalition to overlook differences, in part through their own political skills and strength, in part by emphasising their commitment to principles. Romney has struggled to do that.In Iowa, Huckabee outflanked him, picking off social conservatives in big numbers suspicious of Romney’s changes in positions over the years. But Huckabee has been hammered by another part of the old coalition — economic conservatives — upset over his record of raising taxes and spending while governor of Arkansas. Indeed, the Club for Growth, one of Huckabee’s biggest tormentors over his record on taxes, issued a statement on Tuesday, nine minutes after the polls closed headlined, “Huckabee Loses in Michigan, Taxpayers Win.”Foreign policy conservatives have also expressed qualms about Huckabee because he criticised aspects of Bush’s national security approach.McCain has embraced the national security mantle that first Reagan, by confronting the Soviet Union and communism, and Bush, by emphasising his aggressive approach to battling terrorism, wore.And McCain’s appeal to independents was proved in New Hampshire, a point his aides were making on Tuesday night in asserting that he, alone in the field, could put some of the pieces of the coalition together.“I think McCain is the one guy in who can recreate the Reagan coalition and draw in independents,” said Mark McKinnon, a senior advisor to McCain, who was also media advisor to Bush in 2000 and 2008.But McCain has his own problems. He continues to be viewed with great suspicion by many conservatives because of his views on immigration, campaign finance laws and the use of aggressive interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects, not to mention his history of fighting with Bush.From Michigan, the Republican candidates head to South Carolina on Saturday and to Florida the next week. Again, these are two states with very different electorates.The RaceIn South CarolinaRepublicansRepublican John McCain is leading rival Mike Huckabee in South Carolina by 29 per cent to 23 per cent. Mitt Romney is in third place with 13 per cent DEMOCRATSBarack Obama has erased a once substantial deficit to climb into a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, according to a Reuters/ Zogby poll released on Wednesday
