Every serious campaign hits a big slump in the pre-primary season, be it John McCain's time in the immigration reform wood chipper or Fred Thompson's Zombie on Ice announcement tour. Rudy Giuliani's big slump will surely come soon enough. But for now, Mitt Romney is in the ditch.
In some ways, Romney's problems are a symptom of his success. He's captured Iowa and New Hampshire, so now every other campaign must try to kill him. It's a problem his opponents would love to have, but a problem nonetheless. For one thing, his lead in Iowa and New Hampshire gives him a back-breaking load of heavy expectations. Compounding all this is the Romney campaign's surprising tin ear.
There seems to be no filter to prevent silly remarks in Romney's material. In fact, the campaign too often appears to leap at the opportunity to pander by saying silly things. Beyond the Dean line, there was a truly nickel and dime item in a Romney speech a few weeks ago where he pledged to protect America from having "In God We Trust" moved to a secondary position on our coinage.
One can cringe and imagine how such foolishness probably comes to be. It's a case of tactical mania, where too many campaign decisions are about breathlessly appealing in some small way to the issue or group of the moment while the larger argument for the presidency is lost. "There are some Christian groups in the audience today governor, and we put in this line here in your speech ... you see, they're very, very big on the coin issue, sir. It'll be gang-busters!"
The problem is that such small feed-'em-a-biscuit fodder makes a presidential candidate look small, too. And looking small is poison. Even Romney's attacks are small. The line-item veto? That is the defining difference between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in a presidential race? Romney has a long career of doing big and impressive things. He badly needs to get that bigness back to his candidacy. Over the last two years Mitt Romney's many skills have brought him to a place where he can win the GOP nomination and quite possibly the presidency. But he's started to lose. Turnaround Artist, heal thyself!
