Keeping his mouth shut is probably
Mitt Romney's best chance at staying in the lead
(Larry Downing/Reuters)
While Rick Perry and Herman Cain are busy fighting over the anti-Romney spot on the Republican presidential ticket, Mitt Romney's
keeping a low profile:
The Romney campaign, running this cycle from a frontrunner position, has scaled back on the candidate's accessibility from four years ago and rarely allows for such unguarded moments on the campaign trail. While Romney has taken the stage for primetime debates and has done a few cable news hits, he's avoided lengthy interviews with magazines to which he spoke in 2008 -- such as Time and Newsweek -- and hasn't appeared on any of the Sunday morning chat shows, a traditional pit stop for any presidential contender. [...]
During recent Republican debates, Romney has twice mentioned an interview he gave to a top national political journalist, Dan Balz of the Washington Post. That interview, however, took place in June 2007. Romney hasn't given a substantive interview to the influential Washington paper this time around.
This makes perfect sense for Romney, of course. Actually talking to the media will inevitably mean he says something that completely contradicts something he's said in the past, which will just lead to more stories about what a flip-flopper Romney is, which will only lead to more stories about how Republicans don't trust that he's really one of them. So staying quiet is really his best option for staying in the lead.
Sure, the Republican Party hates his guts, and the base is so desperate for an Anybody But Romney candidate that these freaks have flirted with Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain. But at the end of the day, the only candidate who has even a snowball's chance in hell of beating President Obama is the Mittster. So while the ABR contenders have taken turns inching up—and then crashing down—in the polls, keeping his head down and his mouth shut is really the best way for Romney to ensure that by the time the primaries start, his competition will have flamed out and his party will be left with no choice but to suck it up and vote for Mitt.