Don’t look now, but Mitt Romney suddenly seems like the Iowa front-runner. …The former Massachusetts governor has carefully tempered expectations in Iowa all year… But as a crowd of conservative opponents keep the anti-Romney vote divided, his odds of a victory in the state that humbled him four years ago have never been better. – Politico [update]
Romney’s having a good last lap in Iowa, even as Ron Paul’s lead remains, and mainly because Newt’s become unhinged.
Gingrich’s most recent telling development came when his campaign didn’t qualify for the Virginia ballot, made worse because it’s his current residence. Now he’s going negative after whining about Romney’s negative ads that did the job.
It reveals why Romney, through all the moments of others rising, has always remained the steady bet. Writing a book that covers 20 years of politics, now available in print on Amazon, including the opening salvo of 2012 in the midst of such volatility, I made the decision to come down on Romney being the only real choice in a desperate field, which at times looked ridiculous in the contagion of snapshot moments.
The most important moment so far in the campaign has been the steady rise and prowess of Ron Paul in Iowa. It seems to have awakened Republicans from their self-destructive stupor, with the coalescing wave of consensus the latest rising tide.
RNC chairman Preibus stated recently that Republicans “will have a nominee pretty quickly.”
John Hinderaker endorses Mitt:
In electing a president, we are choosing someone to run the Executive Branch. A leader, to be sure, but not a speechmaker, a bomb-thrower, a quipster, a television personality or an exemplar of ideological purity. At this point in our history, the United States desperately needs a leader who understands the economy, the world of business, and, more generally, how the world works. We have had more than enough of a leader who was good at giving speeches and was ideologically pure, but who had no clue how the economy works or how the federal government can be administered without resort to graft and corruption. It is time for a president who knows what he is doing.
I’m not convinced at all that Mr. Romney understands “how the world works,” as Hinderaker posits. On foreign policy, Mr. Romney doesn’t come close to Pres. Obama’s current standing, though I would argue that Obama’s mirror image of George W. Bush doesn’t provide much of an opportunity for praise from someone like me. But outside of Ron Paul, obviously taking a page from Obama’s 2008 long view strategy, Mitt Romney’s the only one who was prepared for the 2012 campaign slug fest.
Newt Gingrich clearly was not, believing that his bomb throwing Fox News Channel appearances and the memory of his speakership, which isn’t remembered fondly, would carry the day, but it may only be remembered as a way to strengthen his future book sales and speaking engagements.
Over at Townhall, a right wing columnist targets the myth of Romney’s electability, choosing to cite his Mormonism as a problem. It’s a reprehensible line, so I suggest you read Alan Grayson on the subject instead.
The main issue progressives are hitting is Romney’s vulture capitalism past. Steve Benen hit it yesterday, wondering if anyone would find his Bain Capital – Wall Street coziness appealing. In an Occupy era it’s an understandable target.
Hitting Romney on not releasing his taxes and “secrecy,” also citing that he used the tax code to pay less taxes, seems to be something Democrats believe will work against Romney. I’m unconvinced. A story from the Boston Globe before Christmas revealed Romney’s retort on the coming taxes and Bain attack:
“We don’t have any current plans to release tax returns, but never say never,’’ he said yesterday after greeting voters at an Agway farm and hardware store here. “We’ll see what the future holds. We’ve released, of course, all of the information required by law, which is a pretty extensive release. But down the road we’ll see what happens if I’m the nominee.’’
Romney also indicated that he would not shy away from a legal tax break that shelters partners at private equity firms, like Bain Capital, from high tax rates on the largest part of their take-home profits.
“I can tell you we follow the tax laws, and if there’s an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity,’’ he said.
There isn’t an American in this country with wealth, Democratic, Libertarian, Independent or Republican, who wouldn’t do the very same thing as Romney. As for Bain, Romney’s already got an answer prepared and it’s in defense of capitalism. It may not be popular with progressives and Occupy, but it’s a pure form of Republicanism that has won before, many times.
I’ve never wavered from the belief that Mitt Romney would prevail to become the Republican nominee. Ron Paul’s now helping hasten that inevitability.
The quicker Republicans get a nominee the faster we can get to the next political moment of 2012, which is whether outside candidates will emerge as anything other than a side show.
