Review of the 2012 GOP Presidential Candidates: Mitt Romney

This is the 3rd part of my 4 part series on the 2012 Republican Candidates.

Mitt Romney, a man of patrician good looks, immense wealth, an elitist demeanor, and an awkward personality.  The man, who many consider the overwhelming favorite for the GOP Presidential nomination, has been either first or second in the polls pretty much throughout the race.  He has always been there as either a frontrunner or the frontrunner.

Mitt has a litany of advantages over his opponents.  He has the most money.  He has the best campaign surrogates (Chris Christie, Karl Rove, other people right wingers love).  He seems to have a bunch of home states (all the New England states, all the Mountain West states with Mormons, Michigan).  He is the most-presidential looking.  He has the best "organization"-whatever that means.  All of these advantages have made him an overwhelming favorite on Intrade and the presumptive GOP nominee in the mainstream media.

Still, Mitt kind of sucks.  He isn't that charismatic.  He is also a rich, out-of-touch elitist (He gave the cash in his wallet to an unemployed supporter).  He has been a patrician all of his life and doesn't try to hide (W was a life-long patrician but at least he pretended to be dumb).  He somehow gives the same stump speech every time out -- you'd think a guy as talented as Mitt wouldn't act like such a robot.  He seems to have run away from everything he has done as governor of Massachusetts (health care, being a normal person, not being a right wing nutjob).  He has a conservative problem in a party that obviously doesn't know when to say when to conservative ideology.  Also, he always has a fake smile on and says "ok"  a lot when hugging people on the campaign trail -- maybe he's got touch issues.  Because of these weaknesses, Mitt is in danger of losing to my boy, Rick Santorum.  Beyond looks and personal wealth, Mitt doesn't seem to have much else.

There is little question that Mitt is the favorite of the Republican elite/establishment, however.  20 RNC members have already endorsed Mitt, way more than all of the other candidates combined.  From a Democratic point of view (yes, despite the nature of my posts so far-I consider myself to be a supporter of the Democratic Party), Mitt is the one GOP candidate who you don't think will really f*** things up.  Mitt is on the ballot in all 50 states, something that Newt and Santorum couldn't even get done.  If Newt or Santorum were President, it would be bad.  Neither of those two could get on the ballots of all 50 states when running a nationwide campaign for President--what a couple of screw ups.  Santorum can complain that its because his campaign lacked resources, but lets be honest, getting 500 signatures in Indiana isn't that hard but Santorum screwed it up anyway.

Mitt's problem is that being the establishment's favorite is actually a liability in this election.  He has to win Michigan and Arizona to solidify himself as the de facto frontrunner once again.  If he loses Michigan, it will only give Santorum hope that Santorum can carry most of the Super Tuesday state at best and a 2 horse race to the convention at worst.  The key states for Romney in the near future will be Michigan, Arizona, the Washington caucuses, and the non-super red-southern Super Tuesday states (Ohio, Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia).  Romney likely will lose TN, OK, and GA.

If Mitt was a TV character, I would compare him to the Chevy Chase character on NBC's sitcom Community - "Pierce Hawthorne".  Like Mitt, Pierce is an out-of-touch, socially awkward, and has had a successful business life.  Pierce and Mitt's offspring are all very attractive people as well.  Lastly, both Pierce and Mitt have something they really want, but have a hard obtaining.  For Pierce, it is getting full acceptance to the study group and their companionship.  For Mitt, it is the presidency.