Romney's Case for VP

Mitt Romney said something in January that sounded like political braggadocio if not sheer political lunacy at the time. He flatly said that he was the only GOP presidential candidate who could beat Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Romney made the over the top boast at the very moment that he was wrapping up his abortive attempt at the GOP nomination. Eight months later, Romney still talks and acts as if he is the one who can beat Obama. The only difference this time he thinks he can beat him not as the GOP presidential contender, but as John McCain's VP contender.

The reasons he thinks that he can help topple Obama go far beyond McCain's image problem and lingering doubts of some in the party about him. Romney as Obama sold himself as the change guy who can go to Washington cut the cronyism, bureaucratic and congressional inertia, and restore public confidence. McCain is very much the walking embodiment of the much loathed Washington insider establishment.

Obama is a cash cow and will have a king's ransom campaign war chest. In fact, he's the first Democratic presidential candidate in a while who can go toe to toe with Republicans in the presidential money derby. And money is, as always, a major key to a White House election victory. Money is so important to winning or losing, that it knocked Hillary Clinton out of the primary box. She simply didn't have the funds to compete with Obama in the primaries and caucuses in the smaller states

When the final tab is in this presidential race will be the costliest in American history. Some estimates put the price tag at one billion plus dollars. Romney is every bit the corporate cash cow as Obama. He virtually self-bankrolled his campaign. He can do what McCain has struggled to do and that's open the GOP's corporate money spigot wide.

Romney is a social conservative, but he's also one that social conservatives like, have confidence in, and have gotten behind with passion. McCain isn't. Though he did reasonably well in some primaries getting Christian fundamentalist and ultra conservative votes, there's little passion and enthusiasm among them for him. The overwhelming majority of them will still vote for him, since Obama is simply not an option. But the big question is how many will turn out to vote for McCain. If they stay home in droves on Election Day, McCain's candidacy is DOA.

In nearly all polls, affordable health care jitters rank close behind the economy as a major concern of millions. Obama will tell what he will do if elected to provide affordable care for millions. Romney can tell what he actually did to provide it. Though since leaving office he sounded a warning about the costs, he can still wave the much admired, and successful health care plan that he helped craft and implement as Massachusetts governor as a model for the states and the nation.

McCain will have to spend time and money building name identification for any VP pick other than Romney, or Independent Joe Lieberman, but he's not an option either since social conservatives don't like him. Romney has that name identification, and more importantly, name identification that is not saddled with a trunk load of negatives.

Romney is a decade younger than McCain. Age, as race with Obama is a great X Factor, for McCain. He would be the oldest president ever on inauguration day. This, and health questions, are a big concern for many voters.

The most successful presidents have been governors (with one very notable exception). They bring the administrative and management skills crucial to the office. Romney would put the minds of many voters at ease that if McCain succumbed to health problems, he could immediately step in and ably run the affairs of state.

He's a team player. When he shut down his campaign in February he immediately met with and smoothed over the ruffled feathers with McCain, and urged his delegates to support him. He then went to a couple of states to pitch him. One of them was Michigan which is very much in play for the GOP given the large number of social conservatives there and his strong roots there during his father, George Romney's, years as governor. Since then Romney has been nonstop on the campaign trail beating the drums for McCain.

McCain bets the political bank that his strengths on national security, the war against terrorism, and strangely, even winning the war in Iraq on his terms, will resonate with millions of voters. He'll need more than that to offset voter and party doubts, divisions, and the X Factor of age and health. Romney gives him added insurance to help offset these potentially deal breaking liabilities for him. Romney got it right he could help beat Obama.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February 2008). He is the National Political Affairs Writer for New America Media.

Comments

[arthuride]

The DNC convention in Denver has been a glamour shoot--but did little to convince those opposed to Obama to vote for him. There remains millions of voters who will sit out this presidential election--and those who refuse to vote assure McCain victory in November.