Quick Romney Thoughts

Romney's pushback that he originally vetoed the bill requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims seems worse than the actual charge he's defending.  Basically he's arguing that yes, he mandated that catholic hospitals provide emergency contraception; but at least he showed a callousness toward rape victims in the process!  I don't think this argument is a political winner.

The mortgage settlement announced today puts Romney in a tough spot.  If he says its a good deal, he's acknowledging it as a win for the Obama administration.  If he says it was too hard on banks, he reinforces the narrative that he's more concerned about them than underwater homeowners.  If he says it didn't go far enough for underwater homeowners, he's going against the financial community who are easily the largest contributors to his campaign.  His interview on Cavuto today showed how difficult this issue is for him.  He compared the settlement to "cash for clunkers" and then immediately segued to Dodd-Frank.  He must really hope this issue just goes away.

Speaking of banks, how annoyed would you be if you were a shareholder of Credit Suisse?  They just posted a $698 million loss in the 4th quarter and yet their executives managed to donate $277,250 to Romney's campaign, making them his 4th largest contributor.  Maybe they should spend a little less time at Romney's campaign fundraisers and a little more time making sure their company isn't hemorrhaging cash.  But then it might just be an investment to get Romney as a client.  He recently closed his Swiss bank account with UBS, and they might be pitching their services if he's looking to open up a new one after the campaign ends.

I'll be interested to see how Romney deals with Santorum's rise.  Thus far, Romney has attacked every challenger from the right, particularly on immigration.  When Perry jumped in, Romney went after him daily on his support of the Dream Act.  When Gingrich started to rise, he aggressively went after him on his support of allowing some undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. Santorum simply doesn't provide these same type of opportunities.  Romney has recently been going after him for being a "Washington insider" but that attack line rings hollow from someone who has by far the most Congressional endorsements and is at this very moment in DC at a $10,000 a plate lobbyist fundraiser.  Eventually I think Romney is going to have to start attacking Santorum from the left.  A risky strategy in a Republican primary, but perhaps the only one available to him.  He needs to make the argument that while people may like Santorum's views, they are so outside the mainstream that he will be unelectable in November.  While this tact may hurt him in primaries in the South and Midwest, he hasn't fared well there anyway, and it should help him in the more moderate delegate-rich states on the coasts that he absolutely needs.  Also, this strategy has the benefit of allowing an easier turn to the general election.  If you've spent the last few months seeming comparatively reasonable against your primary opponent, it makes people think that you are reasonable, even if all you'd been doing is denouncing his "ridiculously extreme" views and replacing them with your own "simply extreme" views.