{"id":6541,"date":"2012-09-11T06:06:31","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T10:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=6541"},"modified":"2012-09-11T06:06:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T10:06:33","slug":"100-day-sprint-time-running-out-fast-for-romney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/09\/11\/100-day-sprint-time-running-out-fast-for-romney\/","title":{"rendered":"100 Day Sprint: Time running out fast for Romney"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So we are almost halfway through the 100 day sprint — I know, I know, you’re thanking your higher power right about now.<\/p>\n

But one guy who’s not glad to see the pages drop off the calendar is Mitt Romney.<\/p>\n

For the better part of the last year, Romney has been locked in an also-ran position, just inches behind President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

The Democrat has held a solid lead in the electoral college standing throughout the race.<\/p>\n

Romney pulled into threat-range in the early summer, staking claim to a tie in the popular vote and thinning Obama’s leads in battleground states.<\/p>\n

With the Paul Ryan pick he seemed to be positioned for a bold final push.\u00a0 But that momentum is starting to look more and more like a plateau.<\/p>\n

Romney appears stuck around the 45% mark that John McCain hit in 2008.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in the latest polls Obama is pushing toward or even above the 50% mark.<\/p>\n

(CNN puts the president at 52% to Romney’s 46%, nearly\u00a0 matching Obama’s final margin over John McCain four years ago.)<\/p>\n

None of the Democrats’ current advantages are insurmountable, but the opportunities for the GOP to shake up the race are ticking away\u00a0 VP pick?\u00a0 Done.\u00a0 Conventions?\u00a0 Over.<\/p>\n

Swift Boat style blow to Obama’s approval ratings?\u00a0 If anything, it’s the Democrats who are playing the pit bulls this time around.\u00a0 This morning, Politico is leading with a story about the Democrats “Kerry-izing” Romney on national defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More bad economic news?\u00a0 Well, maybe that could change the race’s dynamics.\u00a0 In their latest assessment of the race, Team Romney is arguing that high unemployment automatically doom Obama to a one-term presidency.<\/p>\n

But I don’t think many politics-watchers buy that anymore.\u00a0\u00a0 I think most people who’ve run out of patience with Obama have already jumped ship.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Romney now faces the risk of several crucial days being lost to hand-wringing stories, as GOPers and conservative allies acknowledge doubts about the Romney-Ryan strategy.<\/p>\n

We’ve already seen anxious essays in the Wall Street Journal, Politico and the Weekly Standard.\u00a0 In the Standard, Bill Kristol compared the Romney approach to that of Michael Dukakis<\/a>.\u00a0 Ouch.<\/p>\n

To win this, Romney has to actually, you know, win it.\u00a0 He has to find a story to tell that convinces Americans that he’s the better guy, with the better plan.\u00a0 I don’t think there are many pundits in America, including conservatives, who would say he’s done that effectively.<\/p>\n

And there’s just not much time left.<\/p>\n

Which leaves the debates as the likeliest opportunity for Romney to break through with that message.\u00a0 Doable, yes.\u00a0\u00a0 But only if Romney elevates his appeal dramatically, and finds a credible, policy-backed narrative along the way.<\/p>\n

He’ll probably also need help from an Obama stumble or some other unforeseen event.<\/p>\n

The big convention bounce for Obama (let’s be honest and call it the Clinton Bounce) will almost certainly fade.\u00a0 But with 56 days to go, that won’t be enough by itself to lift the Republicans out of a frustratingly close second place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So we are almost halfway through the 100 day sprint — I know, I know, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6550],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6545,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6541\/revisions\/6545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}