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Jewish World Review
May 17, 2011
/ 13 Iyar, 5771
Amid RomneyCare fight, voters ask: Where's Mitt?
By
Byron York
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
What is Mitt Romney up to? With his recent healthcare speech in Michigan, Romney has tried, again, to overcome the legacy of the individual-mandate universal healthcare law he signed as governor of Massachusetts.
Will he succeed this time? Well, his GOP rivals, as well as his Democratic critics, are eager to remind the world that Romneycare looks a lot like Obamacare, and on the day Romney delivered his healthcare speech, the Wall Street Journal published a devastating editorial attack under the headline "Obama's Running Mate." Early signs don't look good.
But in some key caucus and primary states, there is another, more basic question being asked these days: Where is the Romney campaign?
Romney has not been to Iowa at all this year. His first visit is scheduled for May 27, when he will give a speech to an economic group in Des Moines. "I don't see Romney playing in Iowa," says a strategist in the state who supported a different candidate in 2008 but is unaffiliated this year. "I don't think he's going to spend a lot of time here. It will be way different from his 2008 strategy."
Four years ago, Romney spent about $10 million to build a huge organization in Iowa. His name, voice and picture were everywhere. For example, his campaign was the second-biggest advertiser on Des Moines radio giant WHO for all of 2007 -- just behind the top ad buyer, Monsanto farm chemicals. But in the end, Romney lost to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who prevailed with a tiny fraction of Romney's money and staff. Don't look for Romney to spend that kind of cash in Iowa again.
Romney is also missing in action in another key early state: South Carolina. "In the 2008 campaign, it seemed like I was at a breakfast with Mitt Romney about once a week for four months," says one neutral observer in South Carolina. "Now, within a year of the primary, I haven't seen anything of him. He was working a lot harder in 2008 than he is now."
During a politics-filled week in South Carolina recently, I met a number of Republicans who supported Romney the last time around but do not plan to vote for him in 2012. They haven't fallen in love with another candidate; they've just fallen out of love with Romney. Their feelings were probably best expressed by long-shot presidential candidate Herman Cain, a 2008 Romney supporter, who at the GOP debate in Greenville explained why he's no longer on the Romney team: "Because he did not win."
Being from Massachusetts, Romney has of course paid more attention to New Hampshire, visiting there a couple of times this year, as well as campaigning for other candidates there in 2010. That has led to speculation that Romney is eyeing a plan in which he would go full-bore in New Hampshire but de-emphasize two of the first three contest states.
Not so, says the Romney camp. "Mitt's going to play in all the states," says one Republican close to Romney. "Across the board."
But there's no doubt that Romney 2012 won't be the same as Romney 2008. "It's a different year, a different climate, a different field," says the Republican. "Smart politicians understand that each cycle is different, and I hope you think we're smart enough not to do what we did last time, because you may have noticed it didn't work out all that well. We're going to be smarter in how we play." Details of the plan, the Republican said, are a secret.
Romney is often described as a front-runner in the GOP race, and indeed, the RealClearPolitics average of polls shows him at or near the head of the pack. In reality, though, it's hard to say there is any front-runner in the wide-open and jumbled GOP presidential contest. Voters are open to new names and are noticeably cool about voting for any holdovers from 2008.
Meanwhile, as he crafts his new strategy, Romney still faces the terrible dilemma of Romneycare. His Obamacare-like plan is a liability with most of the GOP base, so if he continues to defend it, he'll alienate potential supporters -- no matter how many PowerPoint presentations he comes up with to explain that it's really a good thing. But if Romney abandons Romneycare, he'll feed the narrative from 2008 that he is a flip-flopper.
Romney is a smart man, and his success in business and politics is no accident. He still might win this time. But his secret strategy better be very, very good.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on Byron York's column by clicking here.
Previously:
05/10/11 Bin Laden coup won't help Obama in budget fight
05/09/11 Inside the GOP debate: Pawlenty underwhelms, Cain struggles, Santorum scores
05/02/11 Huckabee decision will shape GOP presidential race
04/27/11 Get ready for game of chicken over debt ceiling
04/25/11 McCain: Libyan rebels seek U.S. recognition, might pay for war costs
04/18/11 Have the U.S. and NATO given up on Libya mess?
04/11/11 Reforming entitlements is key to a strong military
04/05/11 Jihadis Who Killed Americans Get U.S. Support in Libya
04/04/11 Unions deploy money and muscle in Battle of Wisconsin
03/30/11 Labor fight in Wisconsin is far from over
03/28/11 Obama fails to grasp the gravity of going to war
03/21/11 Union equates lavish benefits to black civil rights
03/15/11 GOP should heed lesson of 1991: No guts, no glory
03/14/11 GOP focuses on NPR's subsidies, not its politics
03/08/11 While Obama seeks new ideas, his bureaucrats stifle them
02/28/11 Why the GOP shouldn't fear a government shutdown
02/22/11 In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule
02/21/11 Obama team uses slippery words to tout budget
02/15/11 Myth and memory: The battle over Reagan's legacy
02/07/11 Invoking Reagan, Palin says this is a time for choosing again
01/31/11 With each passing year, Reagan grows larger in the American political imagination
01/24/11 House GOP begins long drive to dismantle Obamacare
01/17/11 GOP gears up again to strip NPR of federal funds
01/10/11 To House GOP, illegal immigration is a jobs issue
01/03/11 Obamacare mess is legacy of Dems' moment of power
12/27/10 Smiling Dems will soon cry Washington is broken
12/20/10 Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight
12/13/10 Needed: A more presidential Palin
12/06/10 With Dems in a funk, Obama charts a new course
11/29/10 Obama's poll numbers point to his defeat in 2012
11/22/10 Holder ignored risks of civilian terror trials
11/16/10 Dems love facts and science --- except when they don't
11/08/10 Obama, new GOP lawmakers are on collision course
11/01/10 New GOP star on track to defeat Dem legend Russ Feingold
10/26/10 If Dems lose, Obama will blame everyone but himself
10/19/10 Profligate Congress should read its own bills
10/13/10 Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally
10/11/10 Trash-talking Democrat faces defeat in Florida
10/05/10 A GOP unknown in striking distance of Barney Frank
09/28/10 Administration inflates green-jobs numbers
09/20/10 In Delaware, GOP should target Dems, not O'Donnell
09/14/10 GOP Insiders Wary of Landslide Predictions
08/31/10 For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
08/23/10 Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem
08/17/10 Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
08/17/10 For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity
08/09/10 Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy
08/02/10 A battle between Left and Right --- inside the GOP
07/26/10 GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment
07/20/10 How long will the public tolerate Afghan war?
07/12/10 NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera told first
07/02/10 Legal complaint against Gore is detailed, credible
06/28/10 Obama and Dems heading for electoral disaster
06/21/10 Who told Obama drilling is absolutely safe?
06/14/10 Billions for green jobs, whatever they are
06/07/10 Sestak a no-go for any job. So what was the deal?
05/31/10 As economic worries worsen, White House puts on the glitz
05/25/10 GOP dilemma: Fight Kagan, or go along?
05/11/10 Enforcing nation's immigration laws would be a bargain
05/03/10 How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
04/27/10 What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative?
04/20/10 As government expands, beware the post-office example
04/19/10 Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
04/12/10 GOP Obamacare strategy: Try repeal, then cut
04/05/10 Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
03/30/10 Message to Dems: People still don't like Obamacare
03/23/10 The coming consequences of Obamacare
03/16/10 Marco Rubio and the Republicans who love him
03/15/10 GOP hopes town halls take health care off table
03/08/10 Dems turn risky health vote into manhood contest
03/01/10 Why Obama defies the public on health care
02/22/10 South Carolina mulls 2012: Romney? Palin? Huck?
02/16/10 GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
02/09/10 Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons?
02/02/10 Is Obama dissatisfied with being president?
01/19/10 The Republican dilemma: Good Michael or Bad Michael?
01/12/10 Now the lawmakers are figuring out what they didn't know
01/05/10 GOP deserves blame for Democratic excesses
12/29/09 Dems' dreams of a blue West begin to turn red
12/22/09 Why Dems push health care, even if it kills them
11/30/09 Dems' kamikaze mission: Health care by New Year's
11/23/09 Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here
11/16/09 Dems' slick fix: $210 billion of fiscal restraint
11/10/09 Obama can't be community organizer for the world
11/02/09 At key moment, Obama leaves health post unfilled
10/26/09 Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care
10/12/09 Facts hurt Jennings in youth sex controversy
10/05/09 Amid terror threat, Dems chip away at Patriot Act
09/27/09 In Afghanistan, let U.S. troops be warriors
09/21/09 Under fire, Democrats abandon ACORN in drove
09/14/09 Dems stifle Republican health care plans
09/08/09 For Dems, a serious Charlie Rangel problem
09/07/09 Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job
09/01/09 What happened to the antiwar movement?
08/24/09 Why Dems may jam through health care plan
08/17/09 GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010
08/10/09 The empty words of a journalist turned flack
08/03/09 Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
07/27/09 Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus
07/20/09 Why the GOP failed the Sotomayor test
07/13/09 What the GOPers will ask Sotomayor
06/29/09 Serious questions remain for Mark Sanford
06/22/09 How GOPers can crack the AmeriCorps scandal
06/16/09 Worried about Sotomayor? Consider Andre Davis
06/08/09 Can Mitch Daniels save the GOP?
06/01/09 When the Dems derailed a Latino nominee
05/26/09 Why the GOP will defeat Obama on healthcare
05/19/09 Rosy report can't hide stimulus problems
05/12/09 The Reagan legacy is the man himself
05/05/09 Sen. Specter, meet your new friends
04/27/09 Ted Olson: ‘Torture' probes will never end
04/20/09 Who's Laughing at the Axis of Evil today?
04/14/09 Congress needs Google to track stimulus money
04/06/09 Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
03/30/09 On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right
03/24/09 It's Obama's crisis now
03/17/09: Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
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