With three different Republicans claiming early primary wins, predicting a nominee is no small challenge. But no one does it better than Washington and Lee University.
The small, private university has a 100 year history of luring big political names to Lexington for its quadrennial mock convention. This year that includes former candidates Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain, and GOP heavy hitters Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee. But a little levity kicked off the 2012 convention on Friday.
Student-delegates created floats that celebrate the best - or most notorious - their states and territories have to offer. Since 98 percent of W&L students work on "Mock-Con," it might look like an excuse of blow off some steam.
"It's really kind of a momentum-builder, a spirit builder," explains Convention General Chairwoman Tricia King. "(It's) a way to make sure the different state chairs and all the delegates are rallied around their state. So as soon as they file into the gym, they'll be all hyped up."
The convention's opening speaker was Gov. Bob McDonnell, who reiterated his support for Mitt Romney.
"When he was governor of Massachusetts he cut taxes 19 times, got rid of a $3 billion deficit and created a balanced budget on time," said McDonnell. "Boy, we haven't had a budget in Washington for over a thousand days."
But through most of his half-hour address, McDonnell touted the virtues of the more generic "Republican president" - which he says will mark a stark contrast to Barack Obama.
"We have no coherent strategy from this administration on how to create jobs, how to make America more energy independent," said McDonnell. "These are problems that you young folks are going to have to face."
But the most immediate challenge for these young folks is accurately predicting the nominee for the party out of the White House. Washington and Lee has a proud tradition of getting it right -- 13 out of the last 15 times. It's been even tougher the last two election cycles, as many states moved primaries and caucuses up on the calendar.
"It can be a lot of pressure," King admits. "But we do have an amazingly supportive alumni network who are all rooting for us. Everybody's rooting for us."
A roll-call vote of delegates on Saturday evening will lead to the mock convention's 2012 prediction.
