because the Romney forces are running an Obama-style media campaign.
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I keep thinking they are a little Atwater-ish.
Could be Atwater, I suppose. Constant faux leaks are a very undermining tactic, and we have certainly seen them used in other campaigns.
I read that Romney hired Bachmann’s debate coach (the one that told her to look like a rabid hyena and go for personal attacks) and this was what enabled him to engage in such fierce and unexpectedly personal attacks on Gingrich. He had done his dirty work through the Super PAC before that.
It didn’t work very well with Bachmann because people probably respond less positively to women who act like rabid hyenas, whereas they may think it’s sort of macho for men to do that. But in any case, Romney’s clearly trying every technique in the book (other than having good ideas and being a conservative and getting his head out of the planet Kolob or Claude or whoever).