PLUG ALERT! This is me writing: http://www.salon.com/2012/03/01/long_hair_the_final_political_frontier/
It's a tough call. Heseltine's was too divisive and non-conformist to be taken to heart by the Tories. I think the electorate would have loved him, though, much like they love Boris. Voters like rebels more than politicians.
we'll know after Super Tues if he can drag it out to august
^a candidate has to win 1144 delegates in the primaries to secure an outright majority. the first vote of the convention will then automatically give him/her the nomination. if if no one has 1144, delegates are released after that first vote to vote for whomever they want, i.e jockeying among party factions + power brokers to secure those votes. before the primary era (basically 1800s-WWII), smoke-filled room (literally) deals were the norm, trading political favors for support. it's a complete subversion of the popular vote, + I really don't think it would go over well with today's voters.
And at this stage a new candidate could enter?"^a candidate has to win 1144 delegates in the primaries to secure an outright majority. the first vote of the convention will then automatically give him/her the nomination. if if no one has 1144, delegates are released after that first vote to vote for whomever they want, i.e jockeying among party factions + power brokers to secure those votes. before the primary era (basically 1800s-WWII), smoke-filled room (literally) deals were the norm, trading political favors for support. it's a complete subversion of the popular vote, + I really don't think it would go over well with today's voters."