For all his money, organisation, endorsements and establishment support, the Republican base just can't get to like Romney. Next up is Michigan, which is unlikely to vote Romney (even though his father was a popular Governor there). The reason? Romney's New Yourk Times' Op ed piece "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" is unlikely to play well there even amongst conservative GOP voters. Clint Eastwood's "Half time in America " ad during the Superbowl final couldn't have come at a worse time for Romney. Eastwood, a lifetime Republican voter, didn't explicitly endorse Obama. But he sure endorsed Obama's message that the Auto bail-out worked.
Romney is supposed to be the nominee because he has the money, organization, endorsements, and temperament that his opponents lack. But it turns out that people don't like his face, he can't organize worth a damn, no one cares about endorsements, and his temperament is off-putting. Meanwhile, his money advantage is blunted by the Citizens United ruling that allows Super PACs to keep his opponents going on a shoestring budget. Romney's advantages have so far turned out to not be advantages after all. Even the conservative media has failed to unite behind him.
The only reason the Democrats aren't having this same sort of problem is that they aren't running primaries this year.
I have argued that Obama may even be disadvantaged by not being primaried from the left this year because Romney is being defined as a moderate centrist by the attacks coming from his right. Without an effective attack from his left, Obama remains defined as the leftward edge of the known political universe by the MSM, and not as the pragmatic moderate centrist he actually is. Index of Frank's Diaries
