“He is very Nixon-like in his politics. Especially when it comes to more centralization.”
That much is true. But Romney is no political powerhouse, as Nixon was. And Nixon was NEVER nicey, nicey with the democrats on the campaign. He skewered them at every opportunity. Romney apparently thought that campaigning hard and releasing hard-hitting ads was beneath him.
And the difference, Nixon actually wanted power, and fought hard to get it. Romney, like Tom Dewey, thought it should just be granted to him.
IOW, Romney’s no good at effecting the façade of conservatism.