Today seems to be the day for hand-wringing about Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. In an early-morning post published at RedState.com, CNN Contributor Erick Erickson argues that Mitt Romney is losing to President Barack Obama:
Contra Dick Morris, Mitt Romney is not winning this election. At least Mitt Romney is not winning the election right now. Conservatives are obsessing over every poll, the turn out models used, and the media bias that is on [full] display. Yes, some of the polling models seem screwy, though we all forget the pollsters apply a secret sauce known only to them on top. Yes, reporters are fully beclowning themselves to get their god-king re-elected. But while we may be focused there, the fact is the Romney campaign isn’t functioning well. Lucky for you and me the election is not today. But something needs to happen in Boston and I am less and less hopeful anything will happen
…
Regardless, Team Romney seems so scared of being more unliked than he is already is that they refuse to actually pound a consistent, hard hitting message. Negatives be damned, his message is too muddled for voters to be anything other than confused. Voters have been subjected to two straight Presidential campaign seasons where Romney’s opponents have hit him for being inconsistent and now he is … well … too muddled up to look consistent. If you are going to beat the incumbent, you must convince voters you’ll be a steady, consistent hand or they really will go with the status quo knowing at least they can plan around the guy they already know.
Recommended
On MSNBC this morning, Romney campaign advisor Bay Buchanan hit back:
“You know, you have to remember, Erick Erickson has never been with us,” Buchanan told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd. “There’s many people, as conservatives, they didn’t like us in the primaries, and we do what you can, you send the message that we think is right. This is Governor Romney’s campaign and he is running it and it is his message.”
Erickson, who supported Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP presidential primaries, responded via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/247689368725241856
The presidential election will be decided in a dozen or so battleground states: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, and a few others. The latest Rasmussen polls in these states show very tight races. Last week, Obama was up by 1 in Virginia, up by 2 in Florida, and up by 1 in Ohio — all within the margin of error. A Denver Post poll has Obama up by 1 point in Colorado, also within the margin of error. Meanwhile, Romney was leading by 6 in North Carolina and by 3 in Missouri, according to Rasmussen.
Since those polls were taken last week, it appears that Romney has made gains— possibly as a result of the Obama Administration’s botched response to violent anti-US protests in Egypt and Libya. Nationally, Rasmussen now has Romney ahead of Obama by 2 points:
National Daily Tracking: #Romney: 47%, #Obama: 45%… http://t.co/jDxChXiv
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) September 17, 2012
Romney is also narrowly ahead in swing states, according to Rasmussen:
Swing State Daily Tracking: #Romney 47%, #Obama 45%… http://t.co/uHfcTMEl
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) September 17, 2012
If in fact Romney has gained a few points since last week, he may now hold narrow leads in Virginia, Florida, Ohio, and Colorado. Notwithstanding Erickson’s dire prognosis, this race is close. If the election were held today, it is by no means clear that President Obama would prevail.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member