No sparks for Mitt Romney in Illinois
Another state, another primary eve, and Mitt Romney is still vulnerable. | Reuters
Close
By REID J. EPSTEIN | 3/19/12 6:06 AM EDT
VERNON HILLS, Ill. – Same story, different state.
Mitt Romney has a roster of blue chip GOP supporters here, more resources and a superior organization in a state that seems a good fit to his brand of Republicanism.
And, yet again, on primary eve Illinois remains in play, with Rick Santorum seemingly within striking distance and the former Massachusetts governor’s local supporters more nervous than they should be about Tuesday’s outcome.
Bob Michel, the former House GOP Leader who served 19 terms in Congress representing Peoria, acknowledged that Romney has thus far failed to generate sufficient excitement to deliver a convincing knockout blow to Santorum in Illinois.
“He’s not overwhelming, that’s the problem through the whole damn primary,” said Michel, who backed Romney both in 2008 and again this cycle. “What’s the spark? What’s the thing that gets him off and running? No one knows.”
Romney’s inability to lock down the Republican vote in the most populous of the Midwestern states is exemplified by former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar’s ambivalence toward him.
The two-term former Illinois governor should be in Romney’s sweet spot — a pro-business Republican who held statewide office for 18 years and sometimes faced trouble from more orthodox conservatives.
But instead of backing Romney, Edgar is sitting out a Republican presidential race, he said, for the first time since getting into elective politics.
“Romney just doesn’t get folks real excited,” Edgar told POLITICO. “It seems like he can get about 33 percent and just about hovers there.”
Read much more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74166.html#ixzz1pYajIziD
DO SOMETHING!
| 