Mitt Romney, the frontrunner Republicans just can’t seem to get behind, will face voters in a crucial Michigan primary Tuesday night. His main opponent, Rick Santorum—despite being stuck somewhere between punchline and contender—leads in some polls in the state, where Romney’s father was once governor.
Mitt Romney, the frontrunner Republicans just can’t seem to get behind, will face voters in a crucial Michigan primary Tuesday night. His main opponent, Rick Santorum—despite being stuck somewhere between punchline and contender—leads in some polls in the state, where Romney’s father was once governor.
On Tuesday, Romney, a one-time Massachusetts governor, acknowledged that he might be the problem. From the New York Times:
After a bruising week in which he drew unwanted attention to his wealth, by declaring that his wife owned two Cadillacs and that he was friends with Nascar team owners, Mr. Romney said he had made “some mistakes,” acknowledging that those off-the-cuff comments had damaged his campaign.
He said he was determined to correct course as he prepared for a dozen crucial contests on March 6, Super Tuesday.
“I’m trying to do better and work harder and make sure that we get our message across,” Mr. Romney said, emphasizing that he faulted himself, not his campaign staff, for the setbacks.
One of the most consistent attacks on Romney has been his sometimes slippery stance on some issues. Slate‘s Will Saletan recently explored Romney’s history on the hottest button of them all, abortion, in an exhaustive essay:
Romney began his political career as a pro-choicer. In the story he tells, he had an epiphany, a flash of insight, and committed himself thereafter to protecting life. But that isn’t what happened. The real story of Romney’s conversion—a series of tentative, equivocal, and confused shifts, accompanied by a constant rewriting of his past—paints a more accurate picture of who he is. Romney has complex views and a talent for framing them either way, depending on his audience. He values truth, so he makes sure there’s an element of it in everything he says. He can’t stand to break his promises, so he reinterprets them.
As for Santorum, he says he is made literally ill by the idea of a separation between church and state. So good luck with that, America.