Those of us who hibernated this week might have missed the bad news for the Romney camp in New Hampshire. First, it was the Concord Monitor's ringing unendorsement of the Massachusetts politician, "Romney should not be the next President," which faulted him for not appearing to have any core values. And today, it's the Manchester Union Leader questioning Romney's commitment to conservative values:
There is a reason Mitt Romney has not received a single newspaper endorsement in New Hampshire. It's the same reason his poll numbers are dropping. He has not been able to convince the people of this state that he's the conservative he says he is.
The paper endorsed John McCain, calling him a man of "conviction."
All you need to know about Romney's struggles in New Hampshire is embodied in his answer to the first question posed to him by the Boston Globe's Charlie Savage in a candidates' questionnaire on the Constitution (hat tip, Dave Crisp):
Does the president have inherent powers under the Constitution to conduct surveillance for national security purposes without judicial warrants, regardless of federal statutes?
Intelligence and surveillance have proven to be some of the most effective national security tools we have to protect our nation. Our most basic civil liberty is the right to be kept alive and the President should not hesitate to use every legal tool at his disposal to keep America safe.
"Our most basic civil liberty is the right to be kept alive"? How do you think that goes over in a state whose license plates read, "Live Free or Die"? It's also telling that the nearer Romney is to his home state, the worse he fares. Familiarity breeds contempt, indeed.
Out of all the Republican presidential candidates, Romney is clearly the best funded, polished, and prepared for this campaign and, arguably, the presidency. (And I'm not saying that'd make him a good president.) It's hard to say, though, what the man actually believies. And it doesn't help that he's running in the namby-pamby, inoffensive manner of a front-runner.
I still think Romney wins the nomination in the end, but he's not making it easy for himself. |
