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What Romney Must Do to Woo Conservatives
The former Massachusetts governor faces a tough battle to consolidate grass-roots support.
P BY DAVID A. PATTEN
undits are calling it “Mitt Romney’s conserva- tive problem” — the luke- warm support that the for-
mer Massachusetts governor draws from conservatives. This election cycle has witnessed a
political speed-dating of sorts, as the Republican base flirted with a broken- hearts club of Romney alternatives including Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. Even when Romney
pulled off a narrow vic- tory in Iowa, media out- lets focused instead on the fact that 75 percent of Iowa caucus-goers voted for someone else. As far as the media were con- cerned, Romney couldn’t win even when he won. Still, most analysts
to make them happy. But mainly he’ll depend on their dislike of Obama to keep them on the reservation.” Winning over conservatives won’t
be easy, however. Several major grass-roots organizations, including FreedomWorks and some tea party groups, already have launched an any- body-but-Romney campaign. They cite his unwillingness to fully recant on his healthcare reforms in Massachu- setts, which the current administra- tion, in a transparent effort to sow dis- cord among Republicans, hailed as its inspirational model for Obamacare. “There is a huge anti-
Former Senator GEORGE ALLEN:
Virginia is key to GOP presidential victory.
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see a clear path for Rom- ney to seal the deal with conservatives. “Romney is undoubt- edly going to follow [Richard] Nixon’s advice to run to the right to get nomi- nated and run to the middle to get elected,” says University of Virginia political science expert Larry J. Sabato. “He’ll want the tea parties in his camp, and will stress debt and fiscal issues
8 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2012
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Romney sentiment,” Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips, who endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, recently told ABC News. Still, Romney’s sup-
porters, and many pun- dits, remain confident that conservatives would
be willing to put aside their anti-Rom- ney impulses, considering their funda- mental aversion to the prospect of four more years of President Obama. Team Obama would then face the
daunting prospect of facing a mod- erately conservative Republican with strong business and government cre-
dentials, who can appeal to swing vot- ers and who has the unified support of his party. So what are the key waypoints
on Romney’s road to conservative cachet? And what potholes must he assiduously avoid along the way? In one sense, shoring up conserva-
tive support for Romney is easy. All he has to do is confess that his support for healthcare reforms in Massachusetts was a mistake. But that reversal would play into the narrative of Romney as a serial flip-flopper. And it could com- plicate the centrist tack his campaign may need in November to compete effectively in the critical swing states. Even without a major turnabout
on healthcare reform, Romney can make major inroads with conserva- tives. Here’s how: Emphasize his conservative fiscal record in Massachusetts. Romney
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