TPM Reader JW thinks he knows why Team Mitt went ballistic. (And I think he’s right.)
Ultimately Mitt’s primary campaign is based on electability. If Republican voters don’t think he is more likely to beat Obama, what is actually left for Mitt?
Recently, Rasmussen showed numbers with Santorum doing pretty well against Obama, indeed, better than Mitt. The Midwestern states are coming up, and polls are showing Mitt struggling to beat Santorum. The only path to losing for Mitt is for Santorum to show electoral viability and then to show up in the Midwest and win some states, pushing Newt out completely, and going mano-a-mano with Romney. Add it all up and the Romney clan went ballistic because the Washington Post poll is a poll that every elite in DC will see. If the elites start questioning his electability, then suddenly things are up in the air in a way that they weren’t a week ago.
