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Mitt Romney is supposed to be the only Republican who can defeat Barack Obama, a boast that is belied by his trailing of Obama in the polls. The assumption is that the muddled middle, those folks with less strident ideology who are more open to compromise, will be the deciding factor in November. As we used to say in the neighborhood, “Oh yeah?” We offer this advice . . .

Instead of appealing to voters to vote for him based upon x,y and z, he panders for votes by trying to increase his opponents negatives (as in FL) above his own by massively outspending them on negative ads. This approach has led to his negatives skyrocketing and his positives declining among independents and moderates. Fivethirtyeight and others have been monitoring this, and it isn't pretty. With each battle won (temporarily in Iowa and now Florida), he is headed to surpassing Obama's negatives or having lower positives (some show he already has) and he will ultimately lose against Obama if he...

So far, Mitt Romney has only won in states where he owns summer houses, like New Hampshire. --snip--So why does nearly every pundit and politician think that is the only “electable” candidate, the only one who can beat Obama? The facts and evidence tell a different story. Romney has never won a majority (50% or better) of Republican primary or caucus voters. And, two-thirds of the time, he has had to spend vast sums just to claim the number two spot.

We all know that the GOP candidates are vying for what could be called the most prestigious "Toilet Bowl" in the world -- the "Toilet Bowl" within the White House! I suppose we could label this "season" as the "POT-US SuperWhiteHouse 'playoffs'" -- POT-US representing the acronym of "President Of The United States." Each year, the NFL plays a 16-game pre-playoff regular season. Well, what if... ...the 2008 primary season -- at least the races Mitt Romney competed for beyond his "home turf" -- constituted Romney's "regular season?" Romney's 2008 'Road' Record: 0-16 (Now 0-17) Sizing up only Romney's races...

Mitt Romney’s greatest asset and his primary pitch to voters, the assumption that he is the most viable candidate to face President Obama in a general election, is taking a bruising after Newt Gingrich trounced him in South Carolina on Saturday. The latest Gallup tracking poll of the electorate shows President Obama at parity with both Romney and Gingrich – both Republicans pull 48 percent of the electorate to Obama’s 50 percent. Among national Republicans, Romney’s 10+ point lead over Gingrich has evaporated nearly overnight. Romney’s 23 point lead over Gingrich on January 15 has turned into a 1 point...

Written By : John Hawkins Mitt Romney was a moderate governor in Massachusetts with an unimpressive record of governance. He left office with an approval rating in the thirties and his signature achievement, Romneycare, was a Hurricane Katrina style disaster for the state. Since that’s the case, it’s fair to ask what a Republican who’s not conservative and can’t even carry his own state brings to the table for GOP primary voters. The answer is always the same: Mitt Romney is supposed to be “the most electable” candidate. This is a baffling argument because many people just seem to...

The best case for Mitt Romney’s nomination relates to the glee Democrats express whenever any other contender surges in the Republican contest. Virtually every Democrat I know salivated at the prospect of facing another Texas politico who tends to get tongue-tied under bright lights, and who once confused Social Security with Bernie Madoff’s nastiest work; or a former Speaker whose career is soaked in scandal and influence peddling, and who gets churlish under fire. Democrats also lit up e-mail chains on Tuesday night with zeal over Rick Santorum’s finish, and with snide observations about how the harder edges of his...

The Washington establishment, ever a font of wisdom, has chosen its candidate. Mitt Romney's victory in the Republican primaries, the insiders say, is a fait accompli. They claim he's the most electable, the safe bet. Fine; let's play along for the moment and consider what the Democrats have in store for him in the general election. Recall that before Barack Obama trounced John McCain in 2008, Mr. McCain trounced Mr. Romney. But that's not the worst of it. Mr. Romney's Massachusetts electoral record hardly inspires confidence. He was elected initially in 2002 but couldn't crack 50 percent of the popular...

Four out of ten Republicans believe Mitt Romney would be the most likely candidate to beat President Obama in the general election, according to a new CBS News poll. Cain trailed in the category with just 20 percent... Electability, however, was not most Republicans' top priority when selecting a candidate: 58 percent said they believe it's more important to have a nominee who agrees with them on the issues than one who can beat Mr. Obama next year. Thirty-nine percent said the opposite. But the race could still change; seven in 10 Republican primary voters say it is still too...

Yes, say Republicans, as they assess Carter's weaknesses For several decades, it has been an article of faith among politicians and political analysts that no candidate can win a U.S. presidential election unless he can dominate the broad center of the spectrum, that all candidates on the edges of the left or right are doomed. Barry Goldwater's "extremism . . . is no vice" campaign of 1964 provides the classic evidence, reinforced by George McGovern's 1972 defeat in 49 out of 50 states. And since G.O.P. Front Runner Ronald Reagan relies upon a base of support that is on the...

For several decades, it has been an article of faith among politicians and political analysts that no candidate can win a U.S. presidential election unless he can dominate the broad center of the spectrum, that all candidates on the edges of the left or right are doomed. Barry Goldwater's "extremism . . . is no vice" campaign of 1964 provides the classic evidence, reinforced by George McGovern's 1972 defeat in 49 out of 50 states... Ex-President Gerald Ford left no doubt about his views when he warned last month: "A very conservative Republican cannot win in a national election."

Reagan confronts a Democratic President who, after a temporary surge in the national polls because of the crises in Iran and Afghanistan, is now plagued by declining job ratings. The odds are that by fall, Carter will be trying to defend his management of an economy with double-digit inflation and rising unemployment, gasoline prices of upwards of $2 per gal. and a reduced budget that offends many of the traditional Democratic-constituencies. New York Opinion Researcher Daniel Yankelovich sums it up: "The biggest thing Reagan has going for him is Carter."

Republican voters in early presidential voting states like Iowa are increasingly looking past imperfections in a candidate's conservative record in exchange for someone who appeals to the broader electorate — and might have a better chance of beating President Barack Obama. It's a potentially beneficial development for Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who lead in national polls despite records that break with conservative orthodoxy in some areas. At least in Iowa and New Hampshire, some Republicans are shifting toward Romney and Perry — at the others' expense. "If we keep focusing on immigration and gay...

Electability. It's an elusive quality. It's like chemistry, between movie stars. It's like tinnitus, for wine. Or is that tannins? You know what I mean — the quality of wine that keeps wine experts' voices ringing in your ears when you are stuck next to them at dinners. It's like buzz. It's like the It factor. It's what Bertie Wooster would call a certain indefinable Thingness. Somehow, we have this idea that a person can be “electable.” Of course, you can’t be electable in a vacuum. If I am electable in the middle of a forest and no one is...

Why Mitt Romney still poses the greatest challenge to Obama in 2012 One of my regrets in life is losing the chance to debate Mitt Romney and whip his ass. It was the fall of 2002. Mitt Romney had thundered into Massachusetts with enough money to grab the Republican nomination for governor. Meanwhile, I was doing my best to secure the Democratic nomination. One week before the Democratic primary, I was tied in the polls with the state treasurer, well ahead of four other candidates. But my campaign ran out of cash. Despite pleas from my campaign manager, I didn't...

On a weekend trip to the University of Arkansas, Rudy Giuliani talked about the possibility of running for president again. "My concern about 2012 is -- because I'm a Republican -- to make sure that the Republican party fields a candidate that can win. And if I think that I can help by being a candidate, then that would probably persuade me to do it, but if I can help supporting another candidate, then I'd probably do that." And there's time to figure that out. The good thing about this election -- as opposed to four years ago --...

At the end of Part 1 of this series I asked the question: What happens when Americans, perhaps watching a debate, a speech, or a town hall meeting, begin to realize that Palin is the candidate that they agree with? Yet we had been told, countless times, that Palin is controversial and holds extreme positions (though Obama is never described as such), and here we sit, agreeing with these “crazy” ideas. How will this effect her electability? There are 5 major issues that will win or lose the 2012 Election for someone, if they can handle those issues correctly. And...

On most issues, Americans at large and conservatives in particular agree with Governor Palin. However, for two years now, the media has been pushing the narrative that Governor Palin is polarizing, radioactive and unpopular. They’ve been trashing her, attacking her, distorting her record, and making up lies about her on a daily basis. No politician in US history has received the scrutiny that Governor Palin has received. Now as the 2012 campaign gears up, we suddenly have people coming out from the left and the right proclaiming that Governor Palin is unelectable because she is, lets repeat that: Polarizing, radioactive...

It starts in his home state of Illinois, as Alec MacGillis reports for the Washington Post: Obama’s advisers have pointed to his success in winning over “downstate” Illinoisans as a sign of his electability, but political analysts question the claim. Obama lost most of downstate Illinois in his Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate in 2004, and his big win in the general election that year came against Alan Keyes, a black conservative with a Maryland address. In this year’s presidential primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) beat Obama in southern Illinois’ struggling coal counties, highlighting the same weakness he...