From today’s newsletter …
Clearly, John McCain’s stock is up. In both national and state polling, his support and favorable ratings among Republicans are on the rise.
Mitt Romney might be running roughly even with McCain in Florida, but nationally and in most other states, he is not keeping up with the Arizona senator and does not enjoy the same momentum.
The other surviving GOP contenders, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, are trying desperately to hang on for dear life.
To be sure, there’s considerable resistance to McCain among many staunch conservatives who have long doubted he is truly one of them. And some members of the party establishment havebeen irritated by his frequent exploits as a “maverick.”
But the alternatives are looking less and less attractive every day, and there seems to be a growing, albeit begrudging, admission among longtime McCain detractors that he may be the only Republican who can beat Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama.
Romney still has his considerable personal financial fortune to draw on, and the Florida primary is certainly neck-and-neck. The question remains, however, whether Romney could continue spending through the Feb. 5 array of primaries at the high levels necessary for him to capitalize on a Florida win.
Clearly the Romney strategy is to stay alive long enough to get down to a two-way contest with McCain. From there, he can capitalize on the Arizonan’s many enemies within the party, or hope that there’s a ceiling on McCain’s support and force a mistake.
If that happens, the former Massachusetts governor will have the opportunity to pounce. But McCain has made very few mistakes during this campaign, and even many of his critics are starting to come around.
Romney has badly damaged his own personal franchise, and his perceived strengths have faded. At one time, he projected the image of the competent manager — someone who was sharp, analytical and perhaps the perfect fit to fix an ailing economy.But he’s increasingly viewed as a world-class panderer, and his stock has fallen.
Instead of branding himself as the earnest problem-solver, he has attempted to promote the idea that he is the most conservative candidate in the race, which was neither credible nor particularly convincing. If any candidate this year has soiled his own nest and diminished his own substantial potential, it is Romney.
