Mitt Romney’s response to his unexpected defeats last night is, apparently, to cast the depressing process of forcing Republicans to accede to the inevitable in the inspiring glow of martial rhetoric. Mike Allen reports on his rejiggered plan:
>1) Keep the current team. A shakeup would show weakness and sow chaos. But he may layer in an expert in delegate hunting now that he’s in a county-by-county knife fight. 2) Bolder message: Look for him to stop saying he wants to “replace” Obama and start saying he will “defeat” Obama.
Meanwhile, Romney surrogate and secret resenter Tim Pawlenty is bucking up the troops by calling the race a “slugfest.”
Meanwhile, Romney surrogate and secret resenter Tim Pawlenty is bucking up the troops by calling the race a “slugfest.”
I have no objection on principle to the use of violent metaphors to describe politics. But this is not a knife fight. Or, at least, he may have a knife, but his opponent is armed with a throw pillow. His opponent has none of the salient traits of a successful candidacy. He is winning essentially, and in many instances literally, by default.
The latest instance is Illinois, where Romney has already ten delegates in the bag. Do you need an “expert in delegate hunting” to win a scenario like this?
Now, apparently the Romney campaign decided to let Santorum’s woeful effort go largely unchallenged because it decided the public relations cost of winning almost the entire state unchallenged was not worth the delegates. They need to keep up the appearance of a competition and thus real victory. But let’s not kid ourselves about the glorious battle.
