At the news that Mitt and McCain are newfound friends, which is fueling talk that Mitt may be closer to the top of that short list than previously thought:
Look, I like Mitt. I think he’s a good, smart guy. I think he’s a decent conservative with a great head for business whose CEO-like approach could do bloated government some serious good. I think he was, in many ways, unfairly maligned by both the press and the rest of the Republican field and disproportionately disliked by the McCain campaign while he was on the trail. His abilty to talk about economic issues, which outdoes his ability to speak about all those other issues you saw him inadvisedly focusing on during the primaries, would undoubtedly be valuable. He’d be a boon on the trail and on the ticket, in theory.
But Mitt Romney is an “in theory” candidate. In theory, he was the obvious conservative alternative to John McCain. In theory, he hit all the fiscal con and social con marks in a way no other Republican did. In theory, he looked the part and could walk and talk the walks and talks, respectively. In theory, he had the money, the know-how and the headstart to crush all comers.
In practice, he had every advantage– money, early support from a small group of incredibly influential conservatives (notably National Review), great buzz, a competent organization, a veritable arch-enemy of the base to run against– but it simply did not translate into a swell of support for him among rank-and-file Republicans. It didn’t translate into a swell of support for him among conservative leaders until they were faced with the suddenly real spectre of a McCain candidacy just weeks before Mitt Romney’s campaign finally came to an end in front of CPAC. It was only then that Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and others started openly pushing for Mitt Romney. Which is not to say that their support was insincere. Indeed, I imagine many of them were puing for him sooner and declined to push for him on-air until they could justify jumping into the primary process as a necessary defense of conservatism. But their relative lack of enthusiasm was indicative of a larger lack of it within the base. The evidence is that late support of Romney among many conservatives was much more anti-McCain than it was pro-Romney. Romney ’08 was a rampart, not a rallying cry.
Much like the anti-Bush-not-pro-Kerry campaign of 2004, a defensive campaign didn’t produce enough passion to push Mitt over the top. The McCain campaign today is arelatively small, scrappy, sometimes discombobulated effort. It’s McCain’s legendary off-the-cuff style and primary work ethic writ large and somewhat sloppily on a national electoral stage. The challenge of the McCain campaign will be to impose some of the structure of the ’04 Bush-Cheney machine without quashing the personailty of McCain himself– a job Steve Schmidt and Chris Duhaime have set about doing and will likely do well.
Mitt Romney is, in some ways, the yin to McCain’s yang. He’s the embodiment of organization over excitement. He’s a picture of message control and microtargeting. But in a time when the Republican ticket can use all the passion it can get, both to compliment the candidate’s campaign style and to cure the dearth of conservative volunteers/donors, why put the embodiment of organization on the ticket when you’ve already got organization behind the scenes, where it belongs?
The best argument I’ve heard for a VP slot for Mitt is that he might be able to turn Michigan red. What with Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s depolorable economic leadership, McCain’s historic strength in the state, and Mitt’s obvious economic creds and hometown appeal, the chance at 17 electoral votes might be worth any perceived downside of giving Mitt the job.
All that’s true, in theory. But never since the day we saw Mitt Romney enter the primary race have we seen him capitalize on an “in theory” calculation. Why does anyone believe he’ll deliver now?
Give me Mitt as a close adviser on economic issues. Give me Mitt as a competent surrogate. Give me Mitt as a vanguard of Republican organizing and fundraising. Give me someone else as VP.
