The Mitt Romney team, recognizing that the wheels were coming off the train, told the Politico what their plans were. I have a little review of the plan

First, according to Roger Simon, they want to "game the system". At least as reported to Simon, focusing on the long-ago-settled CA winner-take-all-by-congressional-district, this is a little diversion. The calendar games are gaming the system. The question of what to do with post-Feb. 5th primaries is gaming the system. The talk about being efficient in targeting CA congressional districts is not so much, other than GOTV resources. Ultiamtely, there aren’t that many media markets in CA, as 60% of the population live in LA, Orange, and San Diego counties. When Romney tries to game the system, I would pay much more attention to start party rules changes. Those are done by the party insiders.

Second, he’s going to make sure that he attacks John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. That’s news? These are the nasty, negative guys. They’ve been attacking Rudy for his family life. Mitt Romney will even personally lie about his opponents.

Third, he’s going to try to buy another straw poll, Ames. Again, is this a surprise? He blew a lot of cash on CPAC. And he blew a lot of cash on SRLC last year. Winning straw polls was Phil Gramm’s strategy. He had more money than God, won every straw poll, and is now John McCain’s policy director. Winning straw polls doesn’t make you president.

What’s new here? Isn’t this repackaged strategy that isn’t working?


Soren Dayton

Soren Dayton is an advocacy professional in Washington, DC who has worked in policy, politics, and in human rights, including in India. Soren grew up in Chicago.