Good post. like this line: "The other candidates feel like this guy spent much of his adult life to the left of many Democrats, which makes it hard to swallow a lecture from him about being a real Republican."

Essentially, Romney bought his early (soft) poll numbers in Iowa and NH with his own money.

Here's something you don't see every day. Mitt Romney goes negative on Mike Huckabee in Iowa

You can't really tell if the hate is visceral until it expresses itself as action against one's interest. Hating the guy you're running against is classic campaign ethos.  

What if McCain lost early at Romney's expense?  Would he hug Romney the way he later did with Bush or would Huckabee be willing to run with him the way HW Bush ran with his brutal primary enemy Reagan?  Um, probably so.

I actually don't think Romney will survive anything but a solid second in IA plus a dominating finish in NH and MI and respectable showing in SC and that string will probably not happen with Huckabee and McCain having forward momentum.  The Redskins have a better chance at the playoffs this year than Romney running the board.  But if he did, he would suddenly be the most popular guy on the block to the hordes of fracking opportunists who inhabit our political system.

(And even if it was, no one would like you...) Council Bluffs, Iowa Just to pick up on what I wrote about

Oh c'mon, this is easy, ain't it? Does anyone remember high school? Romney is the ultimate All-American National Merit Scholar + Jock. IIUC his wife was a cheerleader.

It's obviously all about his money that came from not his daddy but his phenomenal success in a cutthroat industry, which success and money was enabled by the man's financial sophistication and cunning, and which is made worse by his glibness, savvy and good looks.

I have vastly more admiration for McCain, but Romney makes McCain's dependence on his wife's money look pitiful. Romney makes Huckabee look like the cracker he is. As a savvy northeastern managerial/boardroom type, Romney comes off as Jack Welch next to Rudy's Mr Smithers.

All that said, I would LOVE our guy or girl to face Romney in the general. he'd be easy to beat. Americans want their president to speak a language they understand, not Powerpoint.

As a Mass. resident who got to know Mitt a bit as a campaigner and as governor for 12 years, I encourage folks not to underestimate him. In my forty-five years of following politics, I have never seen anyone pander as crassly. Nonetheless, his personal background is squeeky clean. He will be knighted by the Republican establishment, which he was born into. He will appeal to the business leader class and recapture many of those are now flirting with Hillary and Obama--and their wallets. He is very smart. And he has his own deep pockets. He has the ability to appeal to all but the most rabid(Christian) right, and his genuine management experience will appeal to the moderates and independents. We can now see that he told bold-faced lies to get elected in Mass. and he is doing the same now. The other Rs, except Huckabee, are in decline as damaged goods--Huck will be next to start going down. Be concerned about Romney. Though he would probably be the most moderate of the Rs once in office, I would not advise buying a used car from the guy.

The way to beat Romney is the way Teddy K did, with economic populism. Peel off a large number of redstate white working-class evangelicals who care little for the Jack Welch mystique and who are queasy about voting for the mormon. (And no, having the Huckster on the ballot won't count; no one votes for #2).  

Dirty? Low road? Yeah. So what?

That Romney is even in the lead anywhere is walking, talking proof (as if any more is needed) that modern Republicans stand for nothing.  

This is the party that took out Kerry - with endless self-righteous hectoring from the entire howling winger media empire -  for supposedly being a flip flopper.

Romney is buying his way in with name and money and sustaining himself with pandering religio-gibberish and immigrant bashing that curdles the stomach of even his Mormon bretheren.  Inspiring stuff.  No wonder Republican numbers with young people are plummeting.  May they sink even lower.

Say that Wandreycer1.

Romney is an insufferable douchebag.  I think teplukhin2you has a point too.  Romney is too perfect for his own good (all the way down to his hair), especially given how sanctimonious he is.  It's one thing to have it all going on if you're humble, it's quite another if you think you're all that and it shows, like it does.

struelpetr1 - look for some clever consultant to whisper into Romney's ear between now and the nomination that he needs to schedule an interview with Barbara Walters and demonstrate, tearfully, to the national audiencel his Shocking Secret, his Great Vulnerability That Makes Him Human (and that satisfies the Enquirer reader's leveling hunger).

A winning ploy: do the John Hughes thing and Blame The Parents. Maybe recount the immeasurable grief of being brainwashed by Dad?

The most redeeming quality to the rest of the Republican presidential field is if in fact, they do despise him.  Anyone have any choice McCain quotes if he's been so open about his contempt?  He's usually the funniest (although it's pretty hard to top insufferable douche-bag).

By now you've probably already heard the big news from the Times magazine's upcoming Huckabee

Noam, who for a while now has been pointing out just how much the other GOP contenders seem to hate Mitt

Joe Klein has an interesting nugget in today's column about a phenomenon we've been chewing over