Would Romney Be Doing Better Right Now?

I always figured Romney would have been a disaster for the Republicans. He was probably the most transparently phony politician in modern times. His flip-flops were breathtaking. His religion (unfairly, IMO), made him a figure of suspicion on the religious right AND among many secular and liberal voters. All spring polls that pitted him against either Clinton or Obama showed him losing by 15-20 points. One poll even showed Obama outpolling Romney by 30!

Yet given the trajectory of the McCain campaign (straight down), I honestly at this point doubt that Romney would be doing any worse. Much of Romney's weakness was with the Republican base. Most of them would have come home, even if they had to hold their noses. And even if Romney's numbers in the South were depressed, it's hard to imagine that even increased black turnout would deliver Obama victories in places like Alabama, Texas, Louisiana or most of the rest of the South.

Moreover, Romney can talk about the economy (even if he's wrong). He sounds intelligent (and is). Given his penchant for ideological contortions, he'd probably have pivoted from running far-right in the primaries to running as a pragmatic, economic centrist during the GE. He'd have a big cash advantage over McCain. His campaign staff almost certainly wouldn't have had the kind of infighting the McCain campaign does. He would likely have used the spring Obama/Hillary battle to make several major national ad buys to bring up his numbers. And he'd definitely not have picked a joke like Palin to be his running mate. Instead, he'd probably have picked someone like Tim Pawlenty or Haley Barbour (MS gov.) to be his running mate.

All in all, his numbers would probably have slowly climbed during the summer. Obama would still have led most of that time, but around the conventions Romney may have pulled even or close to even.

As for now? Even if he weren't even with Obama, I doubt he'd be doing any worse than McCain is currently. And he may have been doing somewhat better, given that he can talk about the economy far better than McCain.

Of course, all of Romney's many weaknesses would still be in play, and maybe he'd be in a far worse position. But the point is that throughout most of this year, it has seemed obvious that the Republicans picked their most electable candidate -- the one Republican who could have kept the WH this year -- yet now that assumption looks like it may have been flawed.

and the fact that he's not a trillion years old, and that despite the fact he'd be full of lies, he wouldn't stoop as low as McCoward has.

On the other hand, his Mormon faith may be a barrier for some whacko fundies. On the other hand, I think he'd have made a savvy VP pick to help in that respect - I suspect he'd have sounded out Huckabee in private from the moment he clinched the nomination. Huck is a loon, but he's many times more respectable than Palin.

I'm not sure exactly how it'd be playing out in the polls, but I think a lot more people may have been duped by the relatively slick Romney.

a MUCH better campaign, and would have chosen a more credible running mate. While, IMO, he's a silk sock full of sh*t, his temperment would not be problematic and he would have given more mainstream Republicans a reason to vote for their party's candidate.

career that involved shipping jobs overseas could of tanked him at this point.

Romney is not tainted like McCain, he's an outsider, young compared to him and has a business background.

I also think he'd play far better in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan than McCain would. That would've changed the dynamics of the race big time.

But it would be a double edged sword on a few fronts:

First, the fact he's tied to Wall Street, he may have been seen as part of the problem. Also, while he'd do better in the west and midwest, I think he would possibly take a hit in Ohio, Florida and the south as a whole.

So he wasn't perfect and I actually think he'd have done more harm as a VP candidate than Palin.

The only reason anyone goes to his rallies is to see Sarah. Romney could not pull off faking he's an economics whiz. Anyone with a brain can see right through him. This is a guy that came to Michigan and claimed we have a "one state recession". He appeals to a different contingent in the party. The fundies would hate him, but the repugs with half a brain would ignore him.

He has no personality which isn't good running against a man of huge charisma. He is an even bigger pro-deregulator than McCain. His convention speech is such an embarrassment of deregulation talk it's no wonder he has disappeared from the campaign trail. He has 5 sons of service age not in service, yet is pro-war. He would lose his home state Mass by a huge margin. You don't become president losing the state you were governor of.

He would run a much better campaign, and wouldn't pander to the base as much alienating the more moderate republicans. He would talk a lot more intelligently about the economy too, and I think would come up with pragmatic policies if comes from a business background.

The only problem is his religion, which could alienate the republican fundie base. He can also be an asshole