Is Mitt Romney making inroads with the Tea Party? That at least seems to be the implication of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s endorsement of him today. Haley had promised to make up her mind before Iowa, and apparently Gingrich’s high poll numbers in her state weren’t enough to win her over:
“Today is the day that I’m throwing all of my support behind Mitt Romney for president,” Haley said on FOX & Friends. ”What I want was someone who is not part of the chaos that is Washington. What I wanted was someone who knew what it was like to turn broken companies around.”
Haley also argued that Romney was the only candidate who could defeat President Barack Obama next fall.
For someone with Tea Party credibility like Haley, it’s useless to try to argue for Romney on the grounds that he’s the true conservative in the race. Movement conservatives will not buy it. But electability is a legitimate issue, and if Haley can make the case that Romney is just as conservative (if not more so) than Gingrich – and has a better chance of getting elected – then that could encourage Tea Partiers to take another look at Romney.
Haley’s support for Romney is also a loss for both Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, who she’s praised in the past, and who could have really used her endorsement in the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses. Both candidates were impressive in the debate last night, but the fact that Haley overlooked them may be an acknowledgment that she can’t see them on a path to the nomination.
The South Carolina governor is quickly jumping into her role as a Romney surrogate, and has already recorded a robocall for him in her state. It will be interesting to see how this impacts Gingrich’s 20-point lead (according to the RCP average) in the South Carolina polls.
What became of my comment (not a reply to this post)? Thanks for confirming my observations!
Oh, hey, nice try spinning Governor Haley's endorsement as an "inroad with the Tea Party," as if the Tea Party were a real party or something. The only problem is that the highly unpopular President Obama out-polls the Governor of South Carolina in her own state. Governor Haley is currently at 34.6% approval, with 43% disapproving of her performance. She's probably the only GOP office-holder in the South who could stand to benefit by association with an electoral non-performer like Romney. n nThe Tea Partiers have come to regret many of their choices. Governor Haley would be one of them. Like Governor Christie, another Romney surrogate, Governor Haley has become one of the conservative-circuit celebrities who play well nationally in blogs, talk radio, and youtube, but play far less well among the voters of their own states.
Which is one of the problems of a new movement. Regardless of their ideas and ideals, you get things like this in their infancy.
I would like to think that Alana Goodman, Jonathan Tobin and Peter Wehner would have enough self respect, not to mention respect for their readers, than to give us angry, over the top caricatures of Mitt Romney's rivals. They attack Romney's rivals in every way, but they do no more than praise Romney's debating skills. They aren't Romney advocates, because they're not Romney supporters. They want anybody but some Southern or Western Tea Party related or Tea Party endorsed conservative. To Goodman, Tobin, and Wehner, Romney is the lesser of the evils. Who's their real candidate? They won't tell us, but it's patently obvious that, within limits, it's ABR.
I can't speak to whatever Tobin and Wehner wrote, but looking only at the above, I think Ms. Goodman is not only objective/fair, but accurate. I am hearing the same thing from my sources in DC — people will never confuse Romney with a conservative, but they are going to support him notwithstanding because he can beat Obama. n nAnd this is Romney's strategy — it was it in Massachusetts all the way back to the botched Senate race just after the rape trial where we could have defeated a drunken (pre-Vikki) Ted Kennedy, the '02 primary where he split the party by forcing the nomination of Kerry Healey instead of the party's choice of Jim Rappaport for Lt Gov (similar to VP), the '04 legislative races where you had to be a supporter of his to be running (and they all lost) — the message every time was "well, the Democrats are worse" and at a certain point, folks just decided to have a few beers and not bother with the election at all. n nRomney's strategy — and Goodman is on to this — is to lock up the endorsement of anyone who is anyone in the GOP. Fine — then what? The Mass GOP is essentially bifurcated if not bipolar, and were he to accomplish this nationally, it will be the end of the GOP, even if he wins. n nMr Graves, facts matter. Exactly what bias did Ms. Goodman show above? She is accurately reporting what I am hearing from a LOT of people — support Romney because Obama s*cks. And it is significant and newsworthy that a major candidate's base of support is not on his platform but that he might defeat the other guy — it is support a mile wide and an inch deep which means that this thing is still wide open. n nAnyone heard anything from Bobbie Jindal lately????
Recent Romney newspaper endorsement: n“If as a Republican your No. 1 priority is the defeat of Obama, consider this: Romney is the candidate within this field who is best-positioned to win general election votes from not simply Republican voters, but from the all-important Independents in the middle, as well as from moderate Democrats on the left.”
obama wants mitt . mitt will put the south esp. texas into play . even if obama doesn't take tx he will make mitt work and spend money he will not have. like it or not mitt has no natural base. you heard it here first.so don.t complain in mid oct about mitt. of course the yappers like coulter and her ilk will use the obama excuse that the defeat would of been even worse with newt. the est. gop are afraid that newt might make them actually do something. it's baked into the cake WE ARE SCREWED!!
I am a disillusioned fiscal conservative registered dem who can not stand the anti-war left, or the neocons, and I would vote for any GOP candidate except Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. ok, I struggle with Santorum, but this "Romney electability" argument is bogus. He is a clone of Bush43+Obama. n nSaw him on tv today, at some Iowa? event, and Romney was wearing worn blue jeans. NOT a good look for him. My advice to Romney: Wear the khakis, and stop trying to make voters think you are Rick Perry, or at least get a REAL Carhartt jacket and have one of your maids wash it until it looks worn…. n nI guess Nikki Haley's endorsement is better than one from Christine O'Donnell for the private equity Harvard MBA/lawyer
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Romney’s eligibility is but a function of the fevered salons of Sodom and Gonorrhea. I wonder when the rest of the Commentary tag team get their own big gig @ WaPo or da Slimes like that hacker Rubin?
Anyone heard anything from Bobbie Jindell recently? n nI came across something in my grad research the other day that indicated that he might be thinking of leaving Louisiana for the national stage – so I ask again — whatever happened to him being the rising POTUS candidate of the GOP? n nI will put this bluntly: If Romney really wants the nomination and really wants to win, the only way he has a chance is to (a) let it be known that "bygones are bygones" and shred his enemies list — and order Eric & Co to do likewise., (b) do whatever is necessary to get Michelle Bachmann as his VEEP candidate, and (c) promise that she will be considered an equal in his administration, not just as the cute blond that walks three steps behind him, as he treated Healey. n nI don't expect this to happen — but then, stranger things have happened…