Florida crowned Mitt Romney the unofficial Republican nominee last month. Now he’s on the precipice of losing the race in Michigan, his native state.
What happened?
A better question might be: What didn’t happen?
Romney failed to take his main opponent Rick Santorum seriously this month, giving the upstart room to breathe and time to win three state races in a row. Romney, plagued by gaffes, has failed to sell a consistent a message about why he should be his party’s nominee.
And in a volatile election season, Romney has also had the misfortune of being the victim of what one Republican called “Tea Party roulette,” which has extended the primary race and kept him in the cross-hairs.
“Mitt has had a bulls eye on his back for something like two years now,” said Allan Bense, a former Florida House speaker and co-chair of Romney’s Florida campaign.
“Once the bulls eye is on your back and the mainstream and others examine you and your issues and your history, it isn’t pretty,” Bense said. “Rick Santorum is learning that now. So I think we’ll be okay once voters become educated about the other candidates.”
Bense is among the more confident Romney Florida backers. They’ve watched with dismay as the Sunshine State’s primary failed to be a deal-sealer for Romney in the race.
Last week, the campaign had to postpone a Daytona Beach fundraiser so that Romney could focus on campaigning in Michigan, a state he was expected to win handily. Now he’s essentially tied with Santorum. Polls suggest Romney should win in Arizona. Both states hold their primaries on Tuesday. The two states set up the 10-state Super Tuesday contest on March 6.
“If we don’t win Michigan on Tuesday, we will start to panic,” said one top Romney official, who didn’t want to be on record for talking out of school. “We made a few missteps. We allowed Santorum to win in Colorado, but we only really started campaigning there once it was too late.”
What an awful year to be a GOP presidential candidate. Given low voter turnout and a now sullied nomination, it must feel like fighting in a small town for the last prom date. You know it ain’t gonna end pretty and the long-term prospects are slim, but you’re committed to getting to the big dance. The GOP’s only chance is to spike the punch to fog everyone’s faculties and hope President Obama starts mashin’ on other guys’ dates. That’s a bit of a long shot, but as this funny YouTube video shows, it wouldn’t be the first time Barack has tripped up another guy’s mojo: http://tinyurl.com/6sevqsj
Posted by: jayburd2020 | February 27, 2012 at 06:26 PM
This kind of thing has to be Romney's undoing, eeihtr in the primary race or general election. You nail him well for this latest idiocy and that excellent cartoon makes it graphically clear.
Posted by: Jan | April 20, 2012 at 03:22 PM
What is with all these orange ruepblicans? I think that orange Minwax stain that these guys like Parry and Boehner use on their skin is soaking into their nervous systems and polluting their thought processes.
Posted by: Amin | April 20, 2012 at 07:26 PM