The 1% has a problem. Though they have most of the money and most of the power and most of the US government under their control, they need to get the White House, and they've put their money on a feckless boob whose motives for wanting to be President are an indigestible admixture of entitlement and narcissistic ambition. Given Romney's complete lack of personal appeal, if the 1% contrives to steal the election for him it could trigger social unrest that they do not want to deal with.
What they need is a charismatic leader, a strong man -- imagine Chris Christie 150 pounds lighter -- who can appeal to the a large segment of the public's latent desire for a bully to take care of them. But that's a problem, too, since petty despots like Christie fall in love with their own image and their own power and tend to turn on their enablers. Given the problem, my guess is they'll try to steal the election for Romney and make it look like a squeaker.
But they don't reckon with Romney's ambition and his own brimming self-regard. He may yet turn out to be the nightmare the ruling class wants to visit on America, but a nightmare from which the ruling class will not be able to wake up.