Oh Mittens
By Why on earth would Mitt Romney wade into the SB-5 fight in Ohio? John Kasich’s union-busting bill is extremely unpopular and is about to go down to a crushing defeat. Given Obama’s somewhat surprising resiliency in the southern and western states he won (and also Arizona where recent polls show him doing pretty well against any Republican), the best Republican hope for victory in 2012 is to peel off the Rust Belt. Indiana seems pretty sure for Republicans whereas I’d bet dollars to donuts that the successful auto industry bailout pretty much guarantees Michigan for Obama. That leaves Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and Pennsylvania as vital states for Republicans. Yet Romney flip-flops over whether to support a bill that may well have doomed Republicans in Ohio in 2012? Why would he do this? It’s not like this is a key issue that Americans are clamoring to know about. It’s not as if the other Republicans contenders have weighed in. What is the possible gain Romney gets here? Making the Ohio Republican primary voter happy? A lovely tea party with classy Ohio Republican elected officials like Mean Jean Schmidt and Josh Mandel?
An absolutely stupid move that really hurts Romney in a key battleground state.
Kyle Leighton has more on why this matters.