Mitt Romney’s Delusions of Victory
by Matt Latimer Nov 3, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Sorry Mitt, the electoral map shows it’s all over but the shouting. Ex-Bush aide Matt Latimer on what the GOP needs to do to rebuild.
Years ago I worked on a political campaign in Michigan. We were losing, badly, but our campaign manager didn’t believe it. To him, every devastating setback was a secret boost to our efforts, every sign of failure proof of our imminent victory, every poll that hurt us was rigged in favor of the other side. “They aren’t going to know what hit them. We’re right where we want to be.” This was the constant refrain. A number of people on the campaign, especially the young and inexperienced, believed him. The rest of us didn’t make many sudden movements when he was around. Still there was something endearing about his total, damn-all-the-evidence conviction. He owned his crazy.
The other day I was asked what the Mitt Romney campaign could do to “regain momentum” after Hurricane Sandy. I was taken aback. Don’t you know, I retorted, that Mitt Romney is on the verge of one of the biggest landslides in American history? Fox News fixture Dick Morris told us just the other day that Romney was even headed for a seemingly improbable win in Pennsylvania. The right-leaning RealClearPolitics lists a half-dozen recent polls in the state. Which of them have Romney ahead? Oh, none of them.
On Sean Hannity’s program, an “expert” on Ohio predicted a Romney win in the state of 5-7 points. What poll shows this? Just one—from a Republican pollster—out of eight taken in the last week.
Karl Rove says Romney has the edge in the overall vote on Election Day and in his hedging way seemed to predict a Romney triumph. What polls show this? Again, almost none of them. Most in fact show a slight edge for Obama. The lone standout is Gallup, which for the past few weeks had shown a single-digit lead for Romney. If Gallup knows something the rest of the polling world doesn’t, it will be a major news story and Gallup will cement itself as the pollster of record as it once was in its glory days. If not, what Gallup is doing to Republicans is cruel. Today they cling to those numbers tighter than Katie Holmes to her divorce lawyers.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/03/mitt-romney-s-delusions-of-victory.htmlAs I posted yesterday, I do think Mitt knows he will lose.
At the link is recently polling info on swing states. Mitt is likely to get North Carolina. Florida and Virginia are just about toss ups. The rest of the swing states are likely to go Obama.
Of course, polls do not factor in stolen elections and Tagg Romney does have a part ownership interest in Ohio's voting machines.
P.S. Isn't "He owned his crazy" a great expression? I'm stealing it.
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