Nah. Anyone who says “we have to turn toward god” during a political campaign goes into the clown group. Pawlenty’s genuflecting to the Tea Party and religious right, like most of the Republican field.
He’ll beat their girl, but always treat her like a lady. This will win some of the Tea Partiers.
After a few months of “Garsh, Mitt, that kinda sounds like more of your Obama-lite [big wink] socialist stuff to me. We Christians [bigger wink] kinda believe in small business, no taxes, and God, not any of these fancy liberal ex-Governor of Massachusetts Inside the Beltway business as usual Communistical idears…”,
they’ll be ready to hang him.
A Palin/Romney internecine fight would be an absolute cringe-o-rama, what with Palin spouting every piece of nonsense that springs into her oh, so tiny mind, and Romney changing positions so often that a chameleon would be envious.
So could he buck conventional wisdom and do it in reverse? Run to the middle during the primary then to the RIGHT during the general?
He isn’t going to get the right flank anyway. If he went to the center maybe he could pick up disaffected moderate Republicans (what’s left of them anyways), or some cross over Dems scared they just may be batshit enough to nominate someone like Palin. Hopefully this allows him to trounce in New Hampshire and you’re probably in a 2-3 way race. Don’t know how the GOP aportions delegates, but who could beat him in places like New York, or California? Then, if successful, get someone to appeal to the right in the VP slot (DeMint has been quiet lately). Then together they play the “Would you rather we have four more years of OBAMA?!?!” card during the general.
If the economy stays bad, you’ve got Romney playing to his strengths (economy and a Chief Executive) and probably some pretty pissed off people in the center that could be had. If the economy improves, they likely had little chance no matter what they did.
Not saying the idea doesn’t suck, but, although it’s early yet, it doesn’t seem like they have a whole lot of other options at this point. 
The problem in the primary is the right wing base. Don’t underestimate the Mormon issue. It may not make a difference in the general election, but it could swing the primary.
Crane
Still, probably not nearly as much as the pandering/flipflopping issue.
Who will the right wing base coalesce behind? Palin isn’t running, Bachmann has no national support, no non-professional politician will get anything but a third party nomination so Cain, Davis and Karger are out, Johnson is too libertarian, so Paul is beyond any chance. Gingrich? Santorum? Who?
See JFK in 1960 though.
Very different. Much of the base considers Mormons to be non-Christian. That argument can be stirred by Palin. All she has to do is emphasize that she is a Christian. The base will get the message.
Just watch.
Crane
A lot of people felt that way about Catholics back then, and some still do.
Whatever. Mormons are less annoying than Evangelicals, so at the very least Romney can play the ‘could be worse’ card.
They can stay home.
lol I doubt he’ll play that card Republicans need the Evangelical vote to win.
Yet ironically, that helps them lose.
Let’s not forget that Glenn Beck is a Latter-Day Saint, too. Presumably, anyone who’s still willing to listen to him on politics is willing to elect one, too.
Beck’s moment in the sun is over, not that his peak viewership was enough to swing the GOP primaries. And from what I can tell, on his show he was pretty quiet about being a Mormon.
At least as far as Michigan is concerned, they were still being punished by the DNC for moving their primary up. Hillary still had her name on the ballot, as did Kucinich and, I believe, a couple more people, but the rest of the candidates pledged to not run in Michigan. Actually, I believed Hillary “missed the deadline” to get he name off, as did Kucinich. Despite that, “Uncommitted” became the de facto vote for Obama and “Uncommitted” won in an awful lot of cities in Michigan and, if you look at the results, had a helluva lot of votes, despite not even being for a candidate. It’s not that it was anti-Hillary; it was just pro-Obama.
Hereare the primary results from 2008 from the most populous county in Michigan, and the highest engine of Democratic voters in the state.
I’m trying to envision a future in which the movement conservatives all stay home rather than putting up a candidate to topple Romney. I can’t. Can you seriously see this? Are you saying they’re going to just write off the last two years? They got a shift to a Republican majority in the House but now they’ll sit on their hands?
I know I talked about this being the silly season earlier. But nothing’s that silly.
Hillary was a huge front runner and most thought she was a sure bet to get the nomination. Romney is one of a secretarial pool of Republicans ,without a front runner. Not one of them has shown the ability to cross the divides within the party, let alone lure Dems and independents.
I am not sure Romney can win over the Tea Baggers. He has a healthcare problem and a religious problem. You can not wave them away.