I have said from the get go (mostly to myself) that MI will be hell for Romney. I haven't understood the notion it was a given. That op-ed, Let Detroit go Bankrupt was the nail in his putative coffin. MI voters won't connect and today there is an excellent column on CNN about why
That's why the characterization of Rick Santorum polling well in Romney's backyard is a bit misguided. The truth is, many of us disowned that two-faced liar years ago. We remember how, back in 2008, Romney came home promising to do all he could to save the auto industry. And we believed him and voted for him and he won the primary here. Then, after he dropped out of the race, he wrote a New York Times op-ed that carried the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
What the hell?
I thought he said he was one of us.
Exactly.
Granderson then goes on to talk about all the people who depend on the auto industry and has another quote that I think defines both the conscious and subconscious view of MI voters about Romney:
If Romney didn't think a bailout was the best way to help the state, he should have said that when he came here looking for delegates and let the people at his rallies decide if they agreed with him. Instead he pandered, then kicked dirt in our faces on his way out the door -- an all too familiar pattern with Romney.
Now I am no numbers person and I don't have the political wisdom so many here do but I can't imagine anything that would set up a voters back than stamping on the main thing that supplies their livelihood, after lying about it. There is state pride too.
To add insult to injury, as Granderson points out, he was WRONG. Even the RW fundies know that.
He may overcome the mess he is in and the perception of him as 1. a liar, 2. wrong on one of the most important issues to those voters, their livelihood and 3. an uncaring megalomaniac who didn't give a hoot if he destroyed most of the voters jobs. Which are tied in some way to the automotive industry in that state!
The far extreme less gov't fanatics still have some sort of dissonance inside the state because they know their knickers were down around their ankles if the Bailout didn't happen. Yet remember..ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID! Their economy was toast if Romney's advice was take. Not the big picture national economy, but the "how do I feed my child, will I have a job tomorrow" individual picture.
Santorum feeds all the social conservatives fantasies without the baggage Romney has..pretty personal baggage to many who felt lied to and as Granderson says,,that they had a knife stuck in their back.
Will he overcome it? Maybe but it will take a lot of work and it needed to start earlier That op-ed may be a Dems wet dream but it is also Santorum's. He hardly has to mention it, the people haven't forgotten.