A wacky and wild election year has just taken another weird turn. First of all, we love that Mitt Romney appealed to his inner moderate and said he is “not willing to light his hair on fire” to attract the social firebrands that are lining up behind Rick Santorum in Michigan. The strangest thing to us political neophytes is that Santorum is urging Democrats to come out and vote. Why? Because it is an open primary. That means voters from either party can vote in it.  Why would a Republican candidate for President encourage Democrats to come out? Because he knows they’re going to vote for him. Because at this point, they think he has less of a chance of beating Barack Obama in a general election than Mitt Romney. What happened to that nice Catholic boy who plays by the rules. Memo to Rick, “This is not nice.”  Mitt, in the meantime, is accusing Santorum of kidnapping the primary. 

The polls are showing Romney and Santorum neck and neck today. But how would either do against Obama in a general election? Well, if you ask the folks at George Washington University, in a head to head match up, the answer is Obama would win. If you talk to the folks at USA Today and Gallup, it’s either Romney or Santorum but NOT Obama in key 2012 swing states.

Romney needs to win Michigan today to avoid losing in a third state that he won in 2008.  His Dad was governor of Michigan and it should have been easier than it’s been. The reality is a lot of folks are still hurting there. And Romney, unfortunately, is getting maligned because he is wealthy and successful. It didn’t help that he said his wife had two Cadillacs but I really can’t understand why it hurt him as much as it did. I think there are a lot of middle class car buffs out there with a second car in the yard, aren’t there? 

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/28/147561573/weekly-standard-polls-split-on-gop-against-obama 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/us/politics/romney-admits-mistakes-as-michigan-votes-in-crucial-primary.html?_r=1&ref=republicanparty