Sunday, October 14, 2012

Politico: The Romney revolt

Politico published a long story a week ago on some changes in the Romney campaign. Interesting piece and they are not really changes but a changing of levels of influence. Some excerpts:

"For months, Ann Romney and her eldest son, Tagg, were dutifully supportive of the political professionals running Mitt Romney’s campaign. All the while, their private frustration was mounting.

Shortly before the first debate, it finally boiled over.

What followed was a family intervention. The candidate’s family prevailed on Mitt Romney, and the campaign operation, to shake things up dramatically, according to campaign insiders. The family pushed for a new message, putting an emphasis on a softer and more moderate image for the GOP nominee — a “let Mitt be Mitt” approach they believed more accurately reflected the looser, generous and more approachable man they knew.

Chief strategist Stuart Stevens — whom the family held responsible for allowing Romney’s personal side to be obscured by an anti-Obama economic message — has seen his once wide-ranging portfolio “fenced in” to mainly the debates, and the television advertising that is his primary expertise, according to campaign officials. Tagg Romney, channeling his mother’s wishes, is taking a much more active role in how the campaign is run.

The family rebellion, long building despite Mitt Romney’s initial reluctance to change, reached a climax in September, amid mounting evidence that the status quo was doomed to failure. The course correction came after internal polls showed him losing nearly every swing state and a loud chorus of second-guessing among prominent conservatives....

This story is based on campaign sources with direct knowledge of the events. The sources insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal disputes and operations.

When the history of this campaign is written, the family intervention will be among the most important turning points in the Romney saga. Until the weeks before the first presidential debate, the candidate sided with Stevens over his family’s skepticism, accepting the strategist’s view that the best way to win was to point out President Barack Obama’s flaws and articulate generic promises to do better....." Article

Posted by Kingfish at 9:55 AM

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think pointing out Obama's flaws was the problem with the strategy, it was catering to the extreme elements of the GOP .

It made Romney seem so unlike the moderate everyone had thought him to be initially that it begged the question, " Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?"

Is he the compassionate conservative that understands that bad things happen to good people or the rigid extremist who believes he has all the answers all of the time and is looking to blame others for every problem of humanity without once ever looking into the mirror?

Stevens' Mitt was coming across as a smug jerk.

Now all Mitt has to do is appear compassionate in the Town Hall debate without seeming patronizing and superior.

October 14, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...

October 14, 2012 10:47 AM ... blah, blah, blah, blah ... extremists ... GOP ... blah, blah, blah, blah.

October 14, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...

October 14, 2012 10:47 AM...."the rigid extremist who believes he has all the answers all of the time and is looking to blame others for every problem of humanity without once ever looking into the mirror?" um are we talking about Romney or Obama, or are you out of touch? The platform for Obama has been "It is all Bush's fault" and he needs more time.

Some extreme right ideas is exactly what this country needs.

October 14, 2012 at 1:08 PM
Kingfish said...

The funny part is Obama took Bush's economic policies for the last two years and put them on steroids. Geithner and Bernanke were around then

October 14, 2012 at 1:10 PM
Anonymous said...

Agree Kingfish
And, 11:56 am thru 1:08pm, I hardly expected much agreement.
Some of us, however, are more interested in a successful outcome.
Your acceptance of Romney was seen as the first hurdle. Stevens underestimated how easy it was to rely on your hatred of Obama and/or liberalism and beat that drum too long.
It's the conservative voter who doesn't think we have a Kenyan Muslim Socialist President that Stevens should have worried about more once the nomination was in the bag.
I know you'll find this hard to believe but many voters don't pay all that close attention to politics until there are two nominees and think those obsessed with all things political are...well...obsessed.
There are even voters who want to hear some solutions not party mantra.

October 14, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Shadowfax said...

And then, there are others.

October 15, 2012 at 2:37 AM
Anonymous said...

Politico? the MSNBC affiliate? You're kidding, right. Politico helped the 'tingle' get on C Matthews leg for Obama.

But they did add to their group--hired Chalian. Remember him, he was the Washington bureau chief for Yahoo News, until he got fired for getting caught on tape saying something horrific about Repubs wanting people to die.

October 15, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Anonymous said...

Politico helped the 'tingle' get on C Matthews leg for Obama.

I thought it was the TINKLE going down Matthews' leg. My dog does that when I scratch her ears.

October 15, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Anonymous said...

And your dog is a better tv personality that Matthews and a better organization than Politico, tinkle and all.

October 15, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Anonymous said...

Breitbart is one of the most amazing news sites.

http://www.breitbart.com/

October 15, 2012 at 3:50 PM

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