ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
And I'm Melissa Block.
After yesterday's presidential primary in Michigan, the Republican race is as muddled as ever. There are now three winners from three states: Mike Huckabee in Iowa, John McCain in New Hampshire, and yesterday, Mitt Romney won Michigan, the state where he grew up.
South Carolina is next this Saturday. Fred Thompson says he has to do well there to go on. And then, on January 29th, there's Florida, where Rudy Giuliani has staked his campaign.
As NPR's Mara Liasson reports, this wide-open race is confounding Republicans.
MARA LIASSON: For an orderly hierarchical party that tends to line up early behind a front-runner, this year, is breaking all the rules. The Republican National Committee began its annual winter meeting today in Washington. National Committee man Bob Shelander from Illinois couldn't point to a single trend or clue from the results so far.
Mr. ROBERT SHELANDER (Member, Republican National Committee): It's very unclear. There's no clarity here. I mean, we've had three major races and three different winners, and this is going to go on a long time. It's a very fluid situation. Anybody that tells you they know what's going to happen is pulling your legs.
LIASSON: But one thing is clear: the retail part of the campaign is over, with voters vetting candidates in their living rooms; now, it's wholesale politics. So many primaries coming up all at once, and in big states where it is a lot more expensive to advertise. In Florida, for instance, TV ads can cost up to $2 million a week.
Republican strategist Scott Reed, who is neutral, says although there are three winners, some winners are more equal than others.
Mr. SCOTT REED (Republican Strategist): I think it's fair to say Romney has a clear edge, because he has a win under his belt in Michigan, and he has the financial resources to go the distance. So, having the resources, the ability to run a campaign is now is going to make a difference as you go into this rapid-fire string of states, where there are not only a lot of delegates, but you're going to need momentum.
LIASSON: Romney isn't counting on a win in South Carolina, where his Mormon religion is an obstacle for evangelical voters, but, says Reed, John McCain really needs to win there.
Mr. REED: A McCain loss in Michigan has hurt him. It's not devastating, but he has to follow it up with a win in South Carolina, the state that tripped him eight years ago, that everybody's waiting and watching. Can he break out? Short of a victory in South Carolina, it's going to be very difficult for McCain to go on, mostly because he's not going to have the financial resources to carry on an extensive campaign in Florida and in all those 22 Super Tuesday states.
LIASSON: One thing that hasn't changed since voters began weighing in is the unhappiness with all of the candidates on the part of the conservative activists. Don Devine of the American Conservative Union says grudgingly that Romney is probably the least bad of the Republicans who seem to have a shot at the nomination.
Mr. DONALD DEVINE (Vice Chairman, American Conservative Union): He says everything right. The question is his credibility. There's no question that if after South Carolina — Thompson hasn't won South Carolina — then Romney probably will be the one conservatives will have to rally around.
LIASSON: Sounds like they'll do it with not much enthusiasm.
Mr. DEVINE: That's true but they may grow on. Who knows?
LIASSON: Longtime national committee man Morton Blackwell of Virginia says the rush of primaries in January and February is coming back to haunt the party.
Mr. MORTON BLACKWELL (Member, Republican National Committee): I think the front-loading is not a good thing. On February 5th, I think it's likely now that we'll see one candidate carrying some states, another candidate carrying other states, another candidate carrying other states. So, it seems to me a really live possibility that no one will have 50 percent plus one when the convention assembles in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
LIASSON: And that means maybe an open convention where the nominee is only decided after multiple ballots of the delegates, something that hasn't happened since 1948 - just another interesting possibility, in an election that has so far defied conventional wisdom and historical precedent.
Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.