If only Rodney Dangerfield were still alive. At least then Mitt Romney would have someone to call and complain about getting no respect.
This is supposed to be Romney’s big day, the moment when the suspense ends and the former Massachusetts governor rocks the Republican world by announcing he is running for president.
The problem: No one seems all that interested, let alone excited, that Romney is finally in the race.
arah Palin is certainly showing him no deference. The former Alaska governor is trampling all over Romney’s announcement by bringing her ‘One Nation’ bus tour into New Hampshire for a clambake just a few hours after Mitt’s campaign launch. Where Palin goes, the spotlight follows.
It gets worse.Republicans in Iowa are so thrilled with Romney’s presidential potential they spent the week in New Jersey, trying to convince Governor Chris Christie to jump into the contest.
In South Carolina, GOP strategists are practically begging Senator Jim DeMint, a star among social conservatives and Tea Party libertarians alike, to run.
DeMint endorsed Romney for the GOP nomination four years ago, but isn’t so hot on him now. He rained on Romney’s opening-day parade by announcing he has agreed to consider a presidential campaign “out of respect for the people who have asked.”
This isn’t how it is supposed to be in Republican races, where the bridesmaid last time around is almost always the one walking down the aisle with voters four years later.
Romney is the type of Republican that used to be favoured by primary voters – a successful businessman and state governor who can credibly challenge Barack Obama over his stewardship of a moribund U.S. economy.
But Romney, ostensibly the GOP frontrunner, is sputtering at the starting line.
A Gallup poll last week showed him leading the pack with 17 per cent support among GOP voters, a mere two points ahead of Palin, who has spent more time preening for the cameras than preparing policy proposals in the past year.
“In the short term, Romney and Palin seem to have benefited most from several prominent potential Republican candidates’ decisions not to run for president,” Gallup said in a ‘damn-him-with-faint-praise’ analysis of the poll.
“Should Palin follow suit and not enter the race, Romney would be the clear front-runner, but arguably the weakest front-runner in any recent Republican nomination campaign.”
So what’s holding Romney back? It starts, and may end, with health care.
The Tea Party wing of the Republican party can’t get past the fact Romney, as governor, passed legislation imposing an individual mandate on residents to purchase health care – a requirement President Barack Obama liked so much he made it the centerpiece of his own federal legislation.
Conservative Republicans hate Obamacare, and they hate Romneycare, too. No amount of explanation by Romney (he argues mandates are legitimate at state level, but should not be imposed from Washington) has convinced the GOP base otherwise.
“It is going to prove very difficult for him to overcome that,” says David Woodard, a Republican strategist in South Carolina and a political scientist at Clemson University.
Then there’s the Mormon thing. Although polling suggests Christian conservatives don’t see Romney’s faith as the obstacle it was in 2008, there is reportedly quiet concern among his advisers that it will still cause problems, particularly in the South.
More than anything, Republicans may simply lack confidence in Romney’s ability to beat Obama in 2012. Whatever qualities he brings to the campaign, Romney is still the guy who lost to the guy who lost to Obama four years ago.
“He is cold gravy. He has gone through the process once and generated some excitement, but now the excitement is gone,” offers Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at Catholic University of America.
All that said, Romney may benefit from the weakness of the GOP field. Notwithstanding his faults, Mitt’s supporters think he is a giant among midgets.
But there is deep ambivalence, even some hostility, toward Romney in two of the three early-voting states, Iowa and South Carolina, where social conservatives hold considerable sway.
Romney is strongest in New Hampshire, Massachusetts’ next-door neighbour. A CNN poll shows him with 32 per cent support in New Hampshire, more than the next five candidates combined. It also found 43 per cent of Republicans in the state either somewhat or extremely dissatisfied with their choices.
New Hampshire is key. To rally Republicans behind his candidacy, he almost certainly must win there.
This is supposed to be Romney’s big day, the moment when the suspense ends and the former Massachusetts governor rocks the Republican world by announcing he is running for president.
The problem: No one seems all that interested, let alone excited, that Romney is finally in the race.
arah Palin is certainly showing him no deference. The former Alaska governor is trampling all over Romney’s announcement by bringing her ‘One Nation’ bus tour into New Hampshire for a clambake just a few hours after Mitt’s campaign launch. Where Palin goes, the spotlight follows.
It gets worse.Republicans in Iowa are so thrilled with Romney’s presidential potential they spent the week in New Jersey, trying to convince Governor Chris Christie to jump into the contest.
In South Carolina, GOP strategists are practically begging Senator Jim DeMint, a star among social conservatives and Tea Party libertarians alike, to run.
DeMint endorsed Romney for the GOP nomination four years ago, but isn’t so hot on him now. He rained on Romney’s opening-day parade by announcing he has agreed to consider a presidential campaign “out of respect for the people who have asked.”
This isn’t how it is supposed to be in Republican races, where the bridesmaid last time around is almost always the one walking down the aisle with voters four years later.
Romney is the type of Republican that used to be favoured by primary voters – a successful businessman and state governor who can credibly challenge Barack Obama over his stewardship of a moribund U.S. economy.
But Romney, ostensibly the GOP frontrunner, is sputtering at the starting line.
A Gallup poll last week showed him leading the pack with 17 per cent support among GOP voters, a mere two points ahead of Palin, who has spent more time preening for the cameras than preparing policy proposals in the past year.
“In the short term, Romney and Palin seem to have benefited most from several prominent potential Republican candidates’ decisions not to run for president,” Gallup said in a ‘damn-him-with-faint-praise’ analysis of the poll.
“Should Palin follow suit and not enter the race, Romney would be the clear front-runner, but arguably the weakest front-runner in any recent Republican nomination campaign.”
So what’s holding Romney back? It starts, and may end, with health care.
The Tea Party wing of the Republican party can’t get past the fact Romney, as governor, passed legislation imposing an individual mandate on residents to purchase health care – a requirement President Barack Obama liked so much he made it the centerpiece of his own federal legislation.
“It is going to prove very difficult for him to overcome that,” says David Woodard, a Republican strategist in South Carolina and a political scientist at Clemson University.
Then there’s the Mormon thing. Although polling suggests Christian conservatives don’t see Romney’s faith as the obstacle it was in 2008, there is reportedly quiet concern among his advisers that it will still cause problems, particularly in the South.
More than anything, Republicans may simply lack confidence in Romney’s ability to beat Obama in 2012. Whatever qualities he brings to the campaign, Romney is still the guy who lost to the guy who lost to Obama four years ago.
“He is cold gravy. He has gone through the process once and generated some excitement, but now the excitement is gone,” offers Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at Catholic University of America.
All that said, Romney may benefit from the weakness of the GOP field. Notwithstanding his faults, Mitt’s supporters think he is a giant among midgets.
But there is deep ambivalence, even some hostility, toward Romney in two of the three early-voting states, Iowa and South Carolina, where social conservatives hold considerable sway.
Romney is strongest in New Hampshire, Massachusetts’ next-door neighbour. A CNN poll shows him with 32 per cent support in New Hampshire, more than the next five candidates combined. It also found 43 per cent of Republicans in the state either somewhat or extremely dissatisfied with their choices.
New Hampshire is key. To rally Republicans behind his candidacy, he almost certainly must win there.
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