Should Mitt have taken Tagg's Advice?

[Anna Komnene]

An interesting article came out the other day in the Boston Globe, suggesting that Mitt Romney's advisers were reluctant to let him show his personal side like his son, Tagg had suggested.

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/2012/12/23/the-story-behind-mitt-romney-loss-the-presidential-campaign-president-obama/2QWkUB9pJgVIi1mAcIhQjL/story.html

So, my question is... would it have made a difference if Romney showed his personal side?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The election wasn't that close, so no.

[OAM]

The election wasn't that close, so no.

Only if your only definition of "difference" is "who won overall".  I think it would have definitely made it closer, and maybe flipped a state or two.  I don't think Romney would have won, but he certainly would have been a lot better off.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

He wins Florida, maybe one or two of the VA/CO/OH firewall trio.

[Maxwell]

He might have ended the race on better terms.

I'm not so sure about Tagg's honesty on this though, considering he also said that Mitt didn't WANT to be president.

[tmthforu94]

I can also confirm, from the few sources I have, that there was initial reluctance by both Mitt and Ann to run a second campaign. Mitt was largely concerned of the stress it would have on the family.

His personal side was emphasized a lot on the fourth night of the convention, actually. I don't think it would have made a huge difference, honestly. By the end, Mitt was actually pretty well liked - it might have helped a little bit with getting conservatives out to vote, but would have done little to sway the critical independent block.

It might have flipped Florida, but that's it.

[sentinel]

Well, Tagg's advice is basically a misrepresentation of who Romney is. Tagg admitted that Romney is a very private person, and thats what came off during the election.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The election wasn't that close, so no.

Only if your only definition of "difference" is "who won overall".  I think it would have definitely made it closer, and maybe flipped a state or two.  I don't think Romney would have won, but he certainly would have been a lot better off.

OK, he might have won Florida then.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

As, tmth said, Mitt mostly made up for it in the end... but let's not deny that a lot of nagging doubts about Romney did exist. Obama's goal was to make people think twice about voting for the governor, and it worked. Had the Romney campaign worked on Mitt's likability in summer, things might've been different. Mitt could've had a lot more cross-over appeal than he ultimately did, and I partly blame the likability issue.