This election is about the economy and Obama’s failure in spite of getting multiple stimlus packages as requested. To get side-tracked with gay, abortion, or other democrat party disctactions using the social agenda arena would have been stupid. Once Mitt is president, he can start evolving his postions by devoling Obama’s agenda.
Social issues are not a “distraction.” Look around; our culture is at stake.
To ignore any issue is stupid. Every vote counts and different voters will be motivated by different issues. The Democrats have a chance to win by building a coalition of many different interest groups who are motivated by different issues. They're not a single-issue party.
Conservatism has at least 3 planks, all vital to the movement, economic, social and national security. To hinge the election on only one factor is an unnecessary risk, since conditions on that factor may change by the time November comes around. You don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Bottom line is this is not about strategy for Romney. He is listening to his heart. He is a big city elite liberal whose justification for being a Republican has always been that he is "slightly" more interested in lowering taxes than the nearest Democrat. He'd probably lie about more of these issues if he could, but his charisma is extremely low which makes it difficult to be a good liar, so he knows he's better off saying nothing at all than to try to lie about his true feelings on these issues. And he obviously can't say how he really feels without driving conservatives away in droves.
There is nothing we can do to "fix" him and make him better on these issues. He is who he is. But let's please not delude ourselves into thinking this is the right way to run a campaign. We certainly don't want other Republican candidates following his example.