Handicapping Romney

Almost done!

To Romney's advantage:
He has money. Money. Money, money, money.

He immediately puts the normally Democratic-stronghold states of Michigan and Massachusetts into play.

Church of LDS members ("Mormons") would be energized by his campaign--and lemme tell you, they know how to volunteer.

He's a governor, and America likes electing governors.

He's a master of negative campaigning.

He's anti-immigrant, which seems to fit the mood of the country right now.

He has a business background, and Americans like that background when they fear that the economy is heading towards a recession.

To his disadvantage:
He's painted himself into such a hard right position that it would be extremely hard for him to swing to center attract independents.

His Church of LDS faith does make some of the Republican "core" nervous about him.

He has a well-deserved reputation as a flip-flopper, one the Democrats could (and should) capitalize on.

He has a too-polished image; one of my colleages at school refers to him as "the Ken doll" of this race.

He lacks a sense of humor, of quipping the quotable line. Politics is done in sound bites, and he doesn't have any.

He goes negative so early, so powerfully, and so repetitively that it turns some people off. (A friend asked me if I didn't like Romney because he was a Mormon; I replied, "No, I don't like him because he's a jerk!")

He's defended Bush so much that it will be easy for the Democrats to draw a connection between Bush and Romney. That's how the Democrats won House and Senate races in 2006.

The longer he runs, the more enemies he makes in the Republican party. Any favors done to him would be grudging, and that's not how elections are won.

Total handicap: -2