Do you think the Republican base is put-off by what Mitt Romney did at Bain Capital? Steve M. sure doesn’t.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I think it remains to be seen. Right now it appears that the situation is so fluid that anything could happen. But Romney certainly appears to be shooting himself in the foot at every opportunity. One thing that could happen is that this runs its course before the campaign really heats up and by mid-summer, the public has already heard enough about it and just tunes it out. But there are a hell of a lot of people who are going to continue to keep those embers glowing, despite Romney’s efforts to put it this fire out.
Damn, I would have cross-posted this, but you had a couple of posts up this morning and I didn’t want to bury them.
In response to the question, I see that after I wrote the post, Nate Silver declared that Romney’s chances of winning South Carolina have gone up significantly. Yesterday Mitt and Newt were pretty much neck-and-neck; now Romney gets a 63% chance of winning and Newt’s down to 27%. I’m not sure why, but if Romney can win under this kind of attack, in a state that borders Newt’s state (a point hardly anybody ever mentions), he’s bulletproof — at least as far as Republicans are concerned.
Why did Nate do that? Are Mittens’ poll numbers improving in SC? Last I saw, they weren’t. But if Mittens wins SC, it’s all over. If Mittens is going to be stopped, SC has to be the first step.
don’t worry, you can put it up or you can put it the other (related) one, or something else. I’m kind of burned out at the moment. Swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, mild headache, and this after having the flu last weekend. For a mild winter it’s been crappy for my health. I think we need some hoarfrost to kill the microbes.
Sorry you’re still so sick. Maybe the mild weather is actually the culprit — below-freezing weather kills germs, i’m told (though that may just be folk wisdom, and not true at all).
I think everything is less active below freezing, including your immune system, so it’s relative. It’s like a Cold War. Heh.
Given that SC is pretty much the basest of the GOP base, I kinda doubt it. It’ll come down to who has the much C.United money to blow. Either way, it’ll be damaging to Romney come the GE. He’s not losing the primary in any foreseeable event.
Mitt has yet to open his mouth and explain what Mitt did at Bain Capitol. I think the base is just waiting for Mitt to speak up.
Bain ads are allowing Mitt to keep out of the social issues fray where Santorum could gain and Newt thinks he could.
The roar from the Guilliani crowd swapping Newt’s attack on the ethics of vulture capitalism for a talking point that Newt is attacking capitalism itself has worked well. Mitt continues to add screw up his defenses but the machine has his back.
Public Policy Polls just tweeted this:
What’s the matter with Kans– er, the entire Republican voter base?
My guess is that however they feel about Romney, they’ve pretty much decided that he’s the ballgame, and considering their choices, who could blame them?
As a result, at this point, most Republicans i know are doubling down on vulture capitalism and that the idea that attacking Willard is the same thing as attacking the free enterprise system itself. I think this line of attack might actually have the adverse affect of solidifying their support for him.
It depends on which part of the Republican base you are talking about. Those folks in the Republican base who lost their jobs because of Bain Capital are not likely to be enthusiastic.
The rest will be waving their free enterprise pom-poms.
Yeah, they never vote against their interests..
Romney’s been losing ground, Gingrich and Paul have been gaining. Seems to me like it’s working shrug
I just can’t believe that Bain-centered attacks can knock down Romney’s Republican primary support enough to matter. Here’s a far-fetched theory:
Perhaps the real intended audience for Gingrich’s and Perry’s attacks are the GOP establishment and big money. If they can blow a big enough hole in Romney’s electability in the general, maybe the establishment will give up on a losing horse they never much liked anyway.
Also, too: Romney back on top in new CNN national [GOP] poll.