Romney Stuck from the Middle

Generally, once there is a presumptive nominee, a mad dash to the middle takes place as the freshly minted standard bearer tries to shake off his extremist cooties. As former challengers acknowledge reality by endorsing the victor, the parties base can focus on the true goal, defeating the incumbent with a unified based.

Hmmmmm . . . . not so fast:

Mitt Romney has vanquished virtually all of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. Only Representative Ron Paul of Texas remains in the race; the rest, even Newt Gingrich, have bowed to the reality that Mr. Romney will be the nominee.

But there is one thing that several of them have stubbornly not done, even in the face of a Republican establishment that is growing impatient with them: endorse Mr. Romney.

Representative Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Mr. Gingrich have all resisted the urgings of their peers to get on board the Mitt Romney Express. Their hesitance is raising concerns among the power brokers in Washington, who wonder what game they are playing. And the pressure is increasing.

The hesitancy is also creating an opportunity for the incumbent to build a wall just far enough to the Right of the Middle to secure re-election:

Last week, senior administration officials surprised reporters in a White House background briefing by correcting a questioner who suggested that Obama thought Romney had his “finger in the wind.”

The rebuke: Romney’s core is now filled in. With craven right-wing craziness.

The backgrounder, in turn, spawned a New York Times story, which allowed Plouffe to trial-balloon a new line of attack, comparing Romney to the archetypal GOP extremist loser: “Whether it’s tax policy, whether it’s his approach to abortion, gay rights, immigration, he’s the most conservative nominee that they’ve had going back to [1964 Republican candidate Barry] Goldwater.”

The cold hearted reality, is once Gov Romney does get the chance to court the moderate vote, the President's surrogates can go right to the flip flopping finger in the wind argument.

Of course, this is all inside baseball. This election will be won or lost based on the mood of the country, the price of gas, the direction of the unemployment rate and the stability of the recovery. But hey, I like baseball.

Flash