US Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is unlikely to last the distance in the race for the party's nomination, but his rival Mitt Romney faces formidable opposition, an expert has told SBS.
"Newt Gingrich is likely to implode somewhere along the campaign trail," Sydney University US Studies associate professor Brendon O'Connor said.
But the news for Mitt Romney - a multi-millionaire - is not good either, according to Professor O'Connor.
"The gap between rich and poor in America is very wide - it's been widening for the past 25 years," he said.
President Barack Obama's assertion in his State of the Union speech that millionaires should pay 30 per cent tax was a dig at Romney, who was recently revealed to have paid just 14 per cent on his $25 million fortune.
"Taxation isn't something you hear Republicans calling for increases of," says O'Connor.
The president used the State of the Union address to spruik traditional Democratic Party values of fairness, that he proposed to achieve through higher taxes on the wealthy.
That suggestion would undoubtedly spark fury from the GOP, according to O'Connor.
Obama has been battling a derailing lack of political cohesion throughout his term since he was elected in 2008.
"These are not great days for cooperation and for achievements in American politics," O'Connor said.
The president's taxation plans could never be passed by Congress this year, so he'll probably resort to using executive order - which will rile the Republican party and likely draw accusations that he is abusing his power.
"I think Obama is quite justified to do this because Congress really has been fairly inept in the last year," says O'Connor.
This election, like the previous one, will be decided by key states like Ohio and Michigan, where the financial downturn has created high unemployment in the local manufacturing industry.
"Obama will be travelling there to make his case for the manufacturing industry and job creation," O'Connor predicts.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been another source of rumours and predictions, but she is unlikely to be on the president's ticket in 2012, according to O'Connor.
"If Obama was to lose, Hillary Clinton might consider a run in 2016 but it's more than likely that the days of the Clintons being major players in American electoral politics are probably coming to an end."
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