Why Romney wins Ohio

[Lincoln Republican]

Ohio has been hurt hard by the recession.  They want a competent manager who will revitalize the economy and restore jobs.

Santorum has never worked in the private sector.  Santorum is a career politician.

Romney's life has been for the most part in the private sector, where his "greatest achievements have been running companies, salvaging companies, creating jobs, and saving jobs."  He turned around the Salt Lake Olympics from a disaster to a tremendous world class sporting and financial success.  He served as Governor of Massachusetts, the Chief Executive of the state, where he took a huge deficit and turned it around into a huge surplus.

Many voters may not especially like Romney, but they want someone they know can manage the economy.

This is why Romney wins Ohio. 

[Alcon]

Evidently, Romney's experience in the private sector just started existing in voters' minds after he won Michigan?

[RI]

Evidently, Romney's experience in the private sector just started existing in voters' minds after he won Michigan?

This is Winfield. Rational conversation is pointless. Just pat him on the head and walk away.

[Yank2133]

Romney will win Ohio because he will outspend Frothy 2-1 and Frothy will say something very stupid in a couple of days.

[Lincoln Republican]

Evidently, Romney's experience in the private sector just started existing in voters' minds after he won Michigan?

This is Winfield. Rational conversation is pointless. Just pat him on the head and walk away.

You are, obviously, simply afraid to admit that my statement is absolutely factual and right on.

But, keep up with the personal insults and attacks.  I can take it.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I don't know... you seem to be counting your chickens before they hatch.  And in this case, I have some serious doubts as to if they'll ever hatch.

[Joe Republic]

Evidently, Romney's experience in the private sector just started existing in voters' minds after he won Michigan?

To be fair, we're talking about Ohio here.  If a shiny ribbon were to announce its candidacy for president tomorrow, it would open up a double digit lead in Ohio soon after.

[RI]

Evidently, Romney's experience in the private sector just started existing in voters' minds after he won Michigan?

This is Winfield. Rational conversation is pointless. Just pat him on the head and walk away.

You are, obviously, simply afraid to admit that my statement is absolutely factual and right on.

But, keep up with the personal insults and attacks.  I can take it.

Romney could very well win Ohio, but even if he does, it'll hardly be for the reasons mentioned in your post.

[memphis]

Romney's record in the private sector includes taking on immense levels of debt, mass layoffs, and obscene profits. That's how private equity works.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Selling that is where Romney's problem is. He has struggled to articulate why and how he can use his experience to create jobs. This leads to the arguement that Santorum makes that being a manager isn't conducive to being President. Which is a combination of captain obvious and mischaracterization of what Romney promises to do with his business credentials. A mischaracterization that Romney has allowed to occur by his own failures at messaging.

I also can't for the life of me understand why he doesnt' make a clear connection between debt and long term job creation because Obama will certainly try to set them up as opposing interests, or why he can't deal with this auto thing that keeps festering.

I was listening to Todd Schnitt, the night of the Michigan primary (it is a 3 PM show broadcast at 9 PM). On there, he said that Romney was refusing to come back on his show, because he blindsighted him with an article about Romneycare, which Mittens attested to have not been familiar with. As Schnitt said, they should have anything and everything related to Obamacare, Romneycare, Healthcare etc flagged that minute it comes out, reviewed extensively with spin, talking points, or fact challenges with alternative supporting sources that contradict it, ready to go so that they are always on a set message regarding that issue with no potential for surpise.  The same should apply to the auto companies, to immigration, to Bain Capital and anything else that could damage Romney overall or with a key election demographic. They should be on every mailing list (DNC, Obama, the GOP primary opponents), and be tracking all the news sites, channels and media sources for such stories or commentaries.

He has the money and the extensive top level campaign network that there is no excuse for this oversight.

[Torie]

Ohio has been hurt hard by the recession.  They want a competent manager who will revitalize the economy and restore jobs.

Santorum has never worked in the private sector.  Santorum is a career politician.

Romney's life has been for the most part in the private sector, where his "greatest achievements have been running companies, salvaging companies, creating jobs, and saving jobs."  He turned around the Salt Lake Olympics from a disaster to a tremendous world class sporting and financial success.  He served as Governor of Massachusetts, the Chief Executive of the state, where he took a huge deficit and turned it around into a huge surplus.

Many voters may not especially like Romney, but they want someone they know can manage the economy.

This is why Romney wins Ohio.  

How is Ohio different than Michigan in a way that favors Romney?  One can list reasons why Michigan would favor Romney over Ohio all things being equal, but not the reverse, no?

So the case for Mittens winning Ohio would be momentum if anything I would think rather than the factors that you mentioned.

Absent momentum, I would, and was, expecting that Mittens would lose Ohio by a bit. I was still confident Mittens would probably get the nomination anyway, based on how the system works across the nation for awarding delegates, which is heavily tilted in Romney's favor.

[LastVoter]

Moneybags.

[Cory]

I think we can all agree that if Romney wins Ohio this thing really is over, if it's not already.

[America First]

I think we can all agree that if Romney wins Ohio this thing really is over, if it's not already.

Not by a long shot.  The media will do everything they can to try to keep the clown candidates competitive.  Just look at how they gave Santorum a free pass for over a month, predominantly saying positive things about him.

[Cory]

Not by a long shot.  The media will do everything they can to try to keep the clown candidates competitive.  Just look at how they gave Santorum a free pass for over a month, predominantly saying positive things about him.

But wouldn't a Ohio victory for Romney destroy the Santorum campaign's legitimacy in the same way Florida knocked down Gingrich? There's been too much hype for Ohio for a Romney win there not to be seen as decisive.

[LastVoter]

I think that if Santorum wins WA, Romney's moneybags aren't going to save him in Ohio, since the media will give Santorum a good narrative. I think this is the hardest state for Romney to moneybag. Florida and Michigan had a good amount of natural Romney supporters unlike Ohio, which has a lot of Santorum supporters because of a more conservative electorate.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Ah, remember how business experience worked well for Romney among blue collars in Massachusetts in 1994?

[Badger]

omney inherited a ton of money and turned it into several tons. If that experience isn't exactly waht a president needs to turn the economy around, I don't know what will.

[Torie]

omney inherited a ton of money and turned it into several tons. If that experience isn't exactly waht a president needs to turn the economy around, I don't know what will.

Mittens gave all the money he inherited to BYU to set up a school of management there.  So if you retain a forensic accountant (do prosecutors ever hire such types?) to trace the money that Mittens now has, he or she would find that none of it originated from some tax free check Mittens got from his Dad's trust or estate that he deposited into his money market account.

Gosh this site is getting to be a bit of work for a Mittbot.

[ajb]

Ohio has been hurt hard by the recession.  They want a competent manager who will revitalize the economy and restore jobs.

Santorum has never worked in the private sector.  Santorum is a career politician.

Romney's life has been for the most part in the private sector, where his "greatest achievements have been running companies, salvaging companies, creating jobs, and saving jobs."  He turned around the Salt Lake Olympics from a disaster to a tremendous world class sporting and financial success.  He served as Governor of Massachusetts, the Chief Executive of the state, where he took a huge deficit and turned it around into a huge surplus.

Many voters may not especially like Romney, but they want someone they know can manage the economy.

This is why Romney wins Ohio. 

I think the weakness with this argument is that so many Republican primary voters sincerely believe that the only thing that government can do to help the economy is to cut taxes and get the hell out of the way. If you really believe that (obviously, I don't), then any idiot can be president, at least in economic terms.
Actually, I can see the argument being made that Romney's experiences in business could be useful in doing something like making Medicare more efficient, or saving the government money on defense procurement. But those are arguments about making government work better, not arguments about drowning it in the bathtub.

[BigSkyBob]

Romney's record in the private sector includes taking on immense levels of debt, mass layoffs, and obscene profits. That's how private equity works.

Like many of the go-go hustlers of the time, Bain capital's modus operandi was to lever up the balance sheets of the companies they acquired, and withdraw money from pension plans they considered "overfunded." It worked out because the economy was booming [servicing the debt,] and, the stock market was rallying [paying pension obligations.]  Had the same tactics been used in 2004, the companies would have been bankrupted, and the taxpayer would have had to foot the pension bills for these companies.

I would prefer that the federal government be run more on the Buffet model of abhorrence of debt.

[BigSkyBob]

Ohio has been hurt hard by the recession.  They want a competent manager who will revitalize the economy and restore jobs.

Santorum has never worked in the private sector.  Santorum is a career politician.

Romney's life has been for the most part in the private sector, where his "greatest achievements have been running companies, salvaging companies, creating jobs, and saving jobs."  He turned around the Salt Lake Olympics from a disaster to a tremendous world class sporting and financial success.  He served as Governor of Massachusetts, the Chief Executive of the state, where he took a huge deficit and turned it around into a huge surplus.

Many voters may not especially like Romney, but they want someone they know can manage the economy.

This is why Romney wins Ohio. 

I think the weakness with this argument is that so many Republican primary voters sincerely believe that the only thing that government can do to help the economy is to cut taxes and get the hell out of the way. If you really believe that (obviously, I don't), then any idiot can be president, at least in economic terms.
Actually, I can see the argument being made that Romney's experiences in business could be useful in doing something like making Medicare more efficient, or saving the government money on defense procurement. But those are arguments about making government work better, not arguments about drowning it in the bathtub.

Actually, Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap might just be the man for the job.

[opebo]

Mittens gave all the money he inherited to BYU to set up a school of management there.  So if you retain a forensic accountant (do prosecutors ever hire such types?) to trace the money that Mittens now has, he or she would find that none of it originated from some tax free check Mittens got from his Dad's trust or estate that he deposited into his money market account.

Even if we were to accept that unlikely tale as true, Torie, membership in this class isn't quite as simple as you imply, Torie.  His privilege was absolute and guaranteed, and neither 'giving away' money, nor 'success', nor even 'failure' can really change that.

He would hardly have 'given away' money had his position not been guaranteed, now would he?

[Torie]

Mittens gave all the money he inherited to BYU to set up a school of management there.  So if you retain a forensic accountant (do prosecutors ever hire such types?) to trace the money that Mittens now has, he or she would find that none of it originated from some tax free check Mittens got from his Dad's trust or estate that he deposited into his money market account.

Even if we were to accept that unlikely tale as true, Torie, membership in this class isn't quite as simple as you imply, Torie.  His privilege was absolute and guaranteed, and neither 'giving away' money, nor 'success', nor even 'failure' can really change that.

He would hardly have 'given away' money had his position not been guaranteed, now would he?

Yes, his Daddy just like mine spent a lot of money maxing his human capital, no doubt about it. He just like me got a "free" BA, MBA, and JD from expensive elite institutions (well BYU  is not so expensive (the LDS subsidizes it heavily, so the tuition even today is only about 9K, which is a fantastic bargain for a private university), and not so elite, but whatever). Come to think about it, Mittens and I have a fair amount in common.

[opebo]

Yes, his Daddy just like mine spent a lot of money maxing his human capital, no doubt about it. He just like me got a "free" BA, MBA, and JD from expensive elite institutions. Come to think about it, Mittens and I have a fair amount in common.

Precisely!  To the guillotine, no matter how much you 'give away' (though I know you would never do something so hypocritical).