POLITICO.COM : "Among political elites, there’s a different factor strengthening Romney’s appeal: He looks like the most viable general election candidate in an increasingly settled field. With brash figures like Sarah Palin still hovering around the race, supporting Romney also looks like a way for GOP leaders to avoid what columnist Peggy Noonan called “a trip to Crazytown” – nominating a divisive candidate who cannot defeat the president"

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“The more the national news is about the economy and how dreadful it is, the more that plays to Mitt Romney's strengths. He’s stronger, on balance, than he was a month ago.” - Romney begins to look as a strong frontrunner


POLITICO.COM
Mitt Romney underestimated
By ALEXANDER BURNS
June 13, 2011


Mitt Romney underestimated



Some excerpts :

Everyone just might have underestimated Mitt Romney.

Serious competitors for the Republican presidential nomination have dropped out of the running. Romney has flexed his financial muscle with a $10 million-plus one-day fundraising haul. Most of all, his narrow, economy-focused message appears to be resonating amid growing alarm about the unemployment rate – which rose above 9 percent the day after Romney declared his campaign.

And in one poll, an ABC News/Washington Post survey released last week, Romney actually led President Barack Obama by 3 percentage points. That’s the best general election showing any Republican has had in a long time.

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“Romney has clearly solidified his role as the frontrunner. He’s shown that money is not going to be an issue and he’s made some strategic decisions on the early states,” said Scott Reed, the former Bob Dole campaign manager who advised Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on his abortive 2012 bid. “He got a nice bump out of the combination of the announcement and the jobs news that reinforced his campaign message: that Obama has made things worse.”

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The New Hampshire debate will be a test of Romney’s momentum, but there will be more pressure on his rivals to distinguish themselves than there will be on him to say anything new.

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“If I were Gov. Romney, I’d say: Ignore any whacks that come your way and keep focusing on what you’ve been saying,” Duprey said. “He shouldn’t worry about the other candidates, just keep going after Obama and talking about the economy.”

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But among the Republicans who are actually running for president, Romney is the one who comes closest to Obama in poll after poll, including the surprising ABC News/Washington Post survey last week.

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“Republicans and conservatives, they want to beat Barack Obama. They want to change the person in the White House,” he continued. “They feel – the ones I talk to – that Gov. Romney is the right person to do that and the right person to turn the economy around.”

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“He’s a vulnerable frontrunner,” Murphy said. “But the madhouse plus the polling is good for him.”

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