DES MOINES, Iowa – From the start, it’s been a roller-coaster race for the Republican presidential nomination.
GOP primary voters can catch their collective breath for the next two weeks after spending the past six lurching toward one candidate and then another in an exercise of political soul-searching that appears far from settled.
The next contests, in Arizona and Michigan, aren’t until Feb. 28. The party with a reputation for order may have it sorted out after March 6, when 10 states get their say. But that would break sharply with this race’s tendency toward uncertainty.
“It’s just frenetic,” says Sally Bradshaw, a Republican strategist and longtime aide to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Everyone is changing their mind every week. It is so unpredictable.”
To Bradshaw, “it’s a sign of a party that does not yet know its path.”
With nine contests down, Mitt Romney leads the delegate hunt, and has both the money and the organization to compete deep into the state-by-state nomination calendar. The last contest, in Utah, is set for June 26.
But his two main rivals have scored decisive victories, putting into doubt the strength of the former Massachusetts governor’s front-running candidacy.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s sweep of Colorado, Minnesota and
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