A non-gaffe prone Mitt Romney

[Rhodie]

Would he be doing any better if he didn't keep making these hoof in the mouth comments.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Yes, although I'm not sure by how much. I'm inclined to think it would at least be statistically significant.

[pbrower2a]

Would he be doing any better if he didn't keep making these hoof in the mouth comments.

Very much -- in the end. Mitt Romney is making political blunders that John McCain, John Kerry, and Al Gore did... and more. We can't yet measure the effects.  Relatively few states are being polled regularly enough to allow us to know what is going on outside the states that have been swing states in the last eight years.

Because of the dynamics of recent campaigns we see lots of polls from Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia... and states with hot Senate races. We get little from Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and the five states that Clinton won reliably but Obama got clobbered in (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia). If foot-in-the-mouth statements had such an effect on the race, then we would see polling show the voting tightening up in such states.

Sporadic polls from university pollsters or local entities who poll only one state might tantalize, but they need corroboration to look credible.

One gaffe isn't enough to sink a campaign except as an excuse. But we all know how President Obama operates as a campaigner... and he might not have a landslide as an objective. He'd rather win back the House and keep the Senate while winning re-election by a narrow margin than win 400 electoral votes and have little to do but veto legislation that reliable majorities obedient to Karl Rogue and Grover Norquist order passed. The idea that Mitt Romney might win might be better for Democrats holding onto the Senate and regaining the House than might a smashing Obama victory.

Congress matters no less than does the Presidency.   

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I don't think he's particularly gaffe-prone.  Not like Joe Biden, who is a walking gaffe machine.

[Stranger in a strange land]

He'd be leading.

[Yelnoc]

Being a gaffe machine is part of who Mitt Romney is.  Remove that and what is left?

[stegosaurus]

Without the soundbites he gifted to the Obama camp ("Corporations are people...", "The trees are the right height...", "Nice ponchos/cookies [snark]", "I'm not concerned with the very poor...", etc), the polls would probably be reversed (Romney +3). If Romney loses, it will have everything to with his shortcomings as a politician and very little to do with his positions on the issues.

[Brittain33]

I don't think he's that gaffe prone. I think he's naturally awkward and the press hates him so any time he does say something particularly awkward, it becomes a big deal. It's like what Gore went through. He has the added problem of having changed positions enough that people monitory every word he says to see if he's going against the base and betraying himself, or something. It's an inhuman process. You have to have some kind of superhuman power to get through it successfully or else be running in 1988.

[RI]

I don't see the point of this thread. You can change any characteristic you want about either candidate to get whatever outcome you want. It's like saying, "Hey guys, if my candidate were better, he'd be doing better!" What an amazing insight.

[Supersonic]

What about Obama's gaffes?

'The private sector is doing fine...', 'You didn't build that...', 'I'm looking at a one term proposition...'.

It isn't like Romney is the only gaffe prone candidate here.

[Likely Voter]

The fundamental question is: why is Mitt Romney losing?

I still feel that he was just the wrong guy to begin with. You don't nominate a financier/member of the 0.1% in the current climate. And the problem is that the usual Romney gaffes are the ones that turn him into a bigger cliche of the super-rich.

Even though he was the most consistent front-runner in the primaries, the persistent "if only someone else would throw their hat in" talk would not stop. People like Bill Kristol and other GOP elites saw this train wreck coming months ago.

Romney can turn it around but clearly Plan A (the economy suck so vote for me since I'm a business man and I'll give you details after the election) is not working. They really need to find a way to humanize him and get people to believe that he can make things better. His RNC speech is make or break (with Debate #1 being his last chance if he hasn't done it by then).

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Isn't Romney's entire ideology just one giant gaffe?

[Dr. Cynic]

I don't think he's particularly gaffe-prone.  Not like Joe Biden, who is a walking gaffe machine.

Biden sure makes his fair share of gaffes too, but he at least is sincere. Mitt Romney is completely different. He's the kind of gaffe machine that makes people say "God, that guy is a real asshole...." His problem is, he's completely insincere and phony. He is the prototype of the politician that people who hate politics cite as one of the reasons.