Romney Writes Off His Home States
Or all of them, in Mitt Romney's case.
The Republican with roots in three blue states probably won’t win any of them this fall. But more significantly, he isn't even going to try, writes The Daily Beast’s John Avlon—sending him into uncharted strategic territory.
Despite headquartering his campaign in Boston, the former governor of Massachusetts isn't going to win his home state this fall. More significantly, he isn't going to try.
Ditto California, the state where he owns a beachfront La Jolla home complete with a $55,000 car elevator. And likely Michigan, the state of his birth, where his father served two terms as governor.
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But writing off his home states seems historically unprecedented. To be clear, past presidential candidates have lost them, most recently Al Gore in 2000 when winning Tennessee would have put him over the top.
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If Romney hadn’t started shifting his social positions to the right when he was governor—especially on choice and stem-cell research—he might have held on to a fighting chance in Michigan. But his preemptive pander on letting the auto industry go bankrupt helped put a stake in that electoral option.
Still, there is an electoral scenario where Romney’s summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire could prove his saving grace. His Northeastern roots helped him claim favorite-son status in the New Hampshire primary, against a cadre of candidates hostile to the region, and could pay off there again in the general election.
But beyond the Live-Free-or-Die summer-home scenario, the fact that Mitt Romney is a political alien in his own home states is a fascinating sign of the times for the GOP. That a northeast governor has to renounce his roots to have a prayer of winning the Republican primaries translates to this: the people who know the candidate best are those least likely to elect him president.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/13/no-home-field-advantage-for-mitt-romney.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
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