In my latest for the Guardian, I take a look at what went wrong for Mitt Romney. The favorite in Iowa and New Hampshire barely a month ago, it now looks like it could be all but over when the polls close tomorrow night.
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Anonymous
Good piece Dan but it’s a little disingenuous to expect a Republican who has been uninterruptedly despised by the Democratic legislature and the Boston media, (including the “conservative” Herald, LOL) to be considered a favorite son. That went out the window when he started taking long weekends out of state. And if being less liberal than the Globe makes you a de facto conservative, there are a lot of insulted journos at Herald Square.
Anonymous
Look, nobody likes the guy but if it weren’t for Huck’ and the evangelicals I think Mitt would be in like Flynn. McCain may be the frontrunner but he’s still not trusted by many in the GOP. Mitt could have taken him, but not with this multimedia effort to trash his campaign. I have to say that no matter what your feelings are about Mitt (and Hillary too) he’s been picked on in the media in ways that I don’t remember ever seeing before. Example: the Concord? newspaper’s Mitt is a weasel “endorsement.” And the national TV spots have been almost completely negative (as are Hillary’s).
Peter Porcupine
DK – two thoughts. Mitt Romney has the resources to go fifty states. And whatever does not kill me makes me stronger.
Tony
Peter’s right on resources. I’m actually surprised Mitt hasn’t prepared a counter punch by airing millions in ads in all the Feb. 5 states. If he doesn’t have a decisive victory in NH, he won’t be out. But he will be wounded. Most folks in the country who aren’t junkies are just slumbering awake to the process. So, there is still time. Then, there is Rudy, who is still in great poll position in a ton of states which will yield him huge delegates if he can stay competitive.
Dan Kennedy
Yes, Peter is definitely right on resources. Of course, one could have said the same about John Connally or Phil Gramm.
Berto
Great column.Romney absolutely has the resources, but I think he also has enough sense to know when he’s throwing good money after bad. In a lot of ways, his sudden fall from grace is stunning, but after seeing the guy up close all these years, it’s kind of hard to say that, right?If Romney doesn’t win tonight (and he won’t), he has to hope that Obama pulls enough Independent voters into the Democratic primary to give himself a semi-respectable second place finish. That will give him enough to limp into Michgan, which has to be his firewall state. A loss there, and it’s over. And remember, Michigan was a McCain state in 2000.Beyond Michigan is South Carolina, which will be a Huckabee-McCain race, and Florida, which Giuliani has worked like mad to keep in his column leading into Super Tuesday. Romney’s almost out of moves.Overall, though, I think everyone can admit the primary schedule is a disaster, but how does anyone go about fixing it? It’s better for the process overall to space these contests out, but each state looks at the revenue and attention the early states get, and they want a piece of that action. What can the parties do to blunt that sort of unenlightened self-interest?