Romney the Bizarrely Anti-Base Candidate
by David Atkins
So Mitt Romney squeaked out 6 of 10 states in a not-so-super Tuesday last night, including a very narrow win in Ohio. Kucinich lost to Marcy Kaptur, who will easily crush GOP nominee Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher in November. Yes, it was that kind of night.
But in a sea of commentary, I'd like to focus everyone's eyes on this: check out the map of Ohio counties won by President Obama over John McCain. Now check out the Ohio map of counties won by Romney over Santorum. Eerily similar, no?
It's not just that Romney can't seem to earn clear victories in states that aren't coastal/northeastern bastions or heavily Mormon. The same dynamic occurs at a county level within states as well. The Republican base simply does not like the guy at all.
And no, that's not a particularly profound or novel statement at this point. But I would postulate the following question: what if there were a Democratic primary for president, and the likely nominee being pushed by the Party Establishment could only notch clear wins in the Deep South and the Bible Belt? What if that same likely Democratic frontrunner barely eked out victories in swing states, and even then performed terribly in areas won by the previous Democratic nominee, and only did well in Republican areas.
Methinks progressives would be furious. Raging mad. And methinks they would be coming out in droves to stop this hypothetical conservadem nominee. Democrats were certainly engaged and motivated during the Obama-Clinton wars.
And yet, turnout in this GOP clown car primary has been abysmally, comically low. A simple Google News search for low turnout brings up story after story in the local presses about weak voter turnout in this Super Tuesday election.
As much as the Democratic and progressive base feels betrayed by the establishment on a variety of issues--and rightly so--there's little precedent for the sort of deliberate smack in the face the GOP base is experiencing right now from its establishment in the form of Mitt Romney. But they appear to be lying down and taking it rather than really fighting back, allowing Mittens to limp, battered and bruised yet still undaunted, toward the finish line.
It's a sorry spectacle, and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes right now.
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