Calling Mitt Romney a "flip-flopper" is so 2008. Now Barack Obama's campaign wants to paint Romney into a corner due to his run to the political right during the GOP primary battle.
Politico points out that survey data shows Romney's embrace of Tea Party positions hurts him with women, Hispanic voters and moderates.
Some of that course correction comes on the advice of former president Bill Clinton.
A more effective strategy, Clinton has told anyone who would listen, would be to focus almost exclusively on Romney’s description of himself as a “severe conservative,” to deny him any chance to tack back to the center, according to three Democrats close to the situation.
“[Clinton] said he thought Romney’s positions on the issues would ultimately be the best way to attack him,” said a Democrat briefed on the details of an amiable Nov. 9 meeting in Clinton’s Harlem office that included (David) Axelrod, Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
“That’s what we are doing, but it doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t do the etch-a-sketch, flip-flop moments when they occur and we will,” added the operative — who says Obama’s campaign likely would have emphasized Romney’s conservative tilt once the primary was over, anyway.
But Clinton’s advice, buttressed by Benenson’s polling, has clearly gained traction internally since the end of Romney’s four-month primary ordeal. “The decision here is that if you are going to pin a tail on the donkey,” says a top Democratic strategist who supported the Clinton view, “let’s make it the conservative tail.”
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