(Hotlineoncall)..."Romney's rise is probably due in part to Republicans are being true to form and rallying behind the candidate who came in second," said GOP lobbyist Cesar Conda who was a policy adviser to Romney in 2008.
(Some may quibble with Conda and note that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was the last man standing against Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the 2008 GOP contest, but Romney did capture more primaries and caucuses.)
"And as the economy continues to struggle, maybe Republicans are warming up to Romney's 'turnaround artist' attributes," added Conda referring to Romney's comfort with economic issues dating back to his days as a head of the investment firm Bain Capital.
"His profile has matured nicely, largely as the result of his willingness to focus on helping rebuild the party as well as focus on substantive issues," explained strategic communications consultant Kevin Madden, who was national press spokesman for Romney's 2008 campaign. "Also, the current matrix of issues and challenges facing the country are ones that he has an identifiable record of success on, namely the economy, health care, budget reform and the need for fiscal accountability."
But Romney isn't at the top of the GOP pile yet.One reason for that drop is that Romney has made his most significant gains among self-identified independents: 44% now view him favorably compared to 25% who view him unfavorably. Last February those numbers were practically flipped when just 29% of independents viewed him favorably and 46% viewed him unfavorably.
"I was very encouraged by the independents' data," said Madden. "After all, Obama's real base is the big middle."
1 comment:
This is really frustrating. Isn't being "perfect" something to strive for? No matter what stage of life we are in, we can always improve. Having a leader like Romney would help inspire us all to be better people.
Post a Comment