Mitt Romney is touting Ann Coulter's endorsement in a campaign ad (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Let's ignore the polls showing Newt Gingrich in the lead and assume for a moment that Mitt Romney somehow mounts a comeback and wins the Republican nomination. I'd bet against that happening (though perhaps not for $10,000), but if it does, the Mitt Romney who wins the nomination is going to have a lot more baggage than the Mitt Romney who announced his candidacy just six months ago.
Last week, I wrote about Romney's decision to revive and embrace Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare as we know it. That remains the single best example of how Romney's campaign has been forced to the right by Newt Gingrich's resurgence, but here's another:
In a new radio ad launched by the Romney campaign in Iowa last week, Romney turns to conservative fire-breather Ann Coulter to make the case that he’s the most electable candidate in the Republican race.
Romney's decision to include an endorsement from Ann Coulter—in her own voice—in a paid campaign advertisement isn't something that President Obama's campaign team is likely to forget, should Romney win the nomination. Coulter is popular on the right, but she's toxic to the general public, and Romney's decision to embrace her is not going to help him next fall.