“. . .now that it appears to be an almost nonexistant path to the White House for Romney, and he’ll have to shuffle off to do whatever he’s going to do in the future...”
The fact Romney, in the middle of an economic depression, is undertaking a $12 million renovation to a home in the wealthy enclave of La Jolla, CA suggests he does not expect to win the election if he captures the nomination. If he is truly the brilliant business executive his handlers portray, he would not be so tone deaf as to know this conspicuous display of wealth will not play well with the middle class and will be used against him by the progressives. It made yesterday’s New York Times and will certainly appear in TV ads as soon as Romney becomes the nominee. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/for-romney-a-four-car-garage-with-its-own-elevator/
The way this is playing out I’m convinced the Republican elites decided long ago to throw this election to Obama and the Democrats. Like McCain, who didn’t know how many houses his family owned (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html), Romney’s behavior is not congruent with a candidate who needs to attract both conservative and independent voters. This leads us to the question: What do Romney and the establishment get in return for facilitating another 4 years of Obama? McCain price was cheap, he gets to continue being the token Republican on the Sunday morning talk show circuit.
“The way this is playing out I’m convinced the Republican elites decided long ago to throw this election to Obama and the Democrats.”
They work together, towards the same ends.