scot, seeing how brutal things are for people and families out in the real world, exactly what kinds of miracles are you expecting from our next president,whether it's the divisive fraud now squatting in the oval office or mitt romney. btw scot, in those photos this week of president obama together with benny n, instead of our commander in chief dealing with the head of our only true friend in the middle east, all i could visualize instead of obama was the right rev.jeremiah wright. now that pixilating thought. ma

I agree with most of what Scot said here, but will make a few observations. The individual mandate in Obamacare became an issue for one reason: It provided the basis for the legal challenge. In other words, the bill has many, many parts that are very bad. But the bad parts could not be challenged in court. The many taxes, the endless regulation, the "Independent Payment Advisory Board" are all very bad policy, but only the mandate can be challenged in court. Romney should be the nominee, but his biggest weakness is not his moderateness, it his lack of charisma. To beat an incumbent, the GOP needs a nominee who will inspire people to vote. Romney is well qualified, but he lacks the passion and moxie of Rick Santorum. We can only hope that as the campaign becomes a referendum on the president, his record alone will drive voters to come out and vote against him.

What if the real problem is less with Romney than with the socialist types, such as the person that wrote this editorial, that he's having trouble winning over?

Yes, Romney is the only plausible candidate. However, Romney is a loser when it comes to running for office. Nobody trusts him. He behaves like a spoiled rich kid who cannot understand why he cannot buy this election. And the Tea-liban types are too reactionary for their own good. Nobody trusts them either. Four more years of the current administration is the unavoidable result. If the Tealiban would stop trying to control the republican party and form their own, the republican party would have a decent chance. They won't do it, and the repulicans are afraid to give them the boot now. That will change after the Tealiban slate goes down in flames this fall.

Bill Maher for President!! He would do a better job than any of the Republican hopefuls.

The only way Romney will win is if he drops all of these social issues, drops all of this radical libertarian garbage and moves way, way to the center on everything else. Pray the economy is weak for the first two quarters and get some good photo opportunities when, and if, his dog Seamus finally comes home. I think Seamus knows better however.

Ah, yes. It is so refreshing to hear that sweet sound of right wing phobia when commenting on an article. But thanks for supporting the Globe.

Romney's major problems: 1. If you don't like his stand on an issue, just wait a while. He's quick to latch on to what he considers public sentiment and then it backfires, causing a retraction. This means he has no core beliefs of his own. 2. Romney and his wife are totally disconnected from the realities experianced by most Americans. His attempts to seem like "one of the boys" comes off as phony. 3. Movie star looks and condescending demeanor gives people the creeps. He seems to assume these things entitles him to whatever he wants. 4. His vaunted business acumen seems to have hurt as many people as it helped. He's still the best candidate, which is faint praise looking at the GOP lineup. Snatorum is especially scary, reminding one of Niedermeyer in "Animal House".

It may be impolitic to point this out, but Romneycare is actually DiMasicare, as that's where the effort started with a bill written by former state Rep. Patricia Walrath. Second, and this is only the latest reason, but nobody believes a word coming out of Romney's mouth, and for good reason. His latest tirade against the individual mandate he signed into law fell apart when he apparently forgot that he wrote an op-ed in a national newspaper, USA Today, touting the individual mandate as Pres. Obama was crafting his program. Finally, Mitt will be the nominee, largely because he has the money an he's not insane, and he will lose in November because the economy will be marginally better and because in terms of flip-flopping, he really is no different that Pres. Obama (Bush tax cuts, Gitmo, National Defense Appropriation Act, signing statements, FISA Courts, public option, prescription drug reimportation, medical marijuana...I could go on and on). It will all come down to "devil you know" voting.

The longer the Limbaugh/Santorum/Super PAC issues remain on the front page of American websites and minds and lips of its citizens, the GOP is going to hemorrhage female support (and support of every other voter with a shred of decency). The longer the Limbaugh/Santorum/Super PAC issues remain on the front page of American websites and minds and lips of its citizens, Obama is likely to be our next President. Look for Santorum's Super PAC to return misogynist Foster Friess' donation shortly, as no doubt as Santorum reflected on Friess' vile and ugly comments about women's contraception and through back channels Santorum will let it be known his Super PAC should return Friess' cash. Then, Santorum will try to deceive American women that it's not about them, but rather about religious freedom.

He is in the center

He hasn't been helped by the MSM crusading on social issues (and having Santorum be a social candidate) instead of the real issues - economy, foreign policy and a corrupt AG

I get why people can not relate to Mitt. He is out of touch with the common folks. However, Obama is a phony and an elitist's. People are fools and vote on image. All I care about is balancing the budget, which Obama and the Dems had two years to balance. Also, we are broke and the deficit is out of control. Out bond rating stinks. Medicare is broke, to the tune of 17 trillion and we have Obamacare that for sure will bankrupt this country. Even if we taxed every rich person at 100%, it still would not pay for Obamacare. We are in a global economy and far left can not understand that. Instead they focus on birth control pills. Vote for Obama and we will lead us on the same path as Greece.

So, for a smart guy like Mitt who knows what the truth is, Lehigh things lying = specious? Interesting. Suppose Obama said Romney hated workers, would you, Scott, describe that as 'specious'?

It is odd that so many Republicans continue to think Santorum can beat the current president. I would have liked a better field myself but ultimately, its about getting a president who will do the best job out of your candidates and running him against President Obama. Id say Romney has a 45-55 shot at beating him. Santorum and Gingrich just cant win. So for me, the decision is easy. I keep hearing that his religion matters to many voters in the South and Midwest. Interested to see if that is really an issue. Obama has been terrible has a president. Its not really his fault, he came in and was foolishly elected without any real experience. The democrats simply wanted to elect a charismatic African american regardless of the skill set that he possessed. Unfortunately, we are all paying for it now.

While I don't think the President is doing a particularly good job, I would not call it terrible, either, but history will be a more objective judge than the present. Lincoln was often hugely unpopular during his Presidency, but he has accurately been judged one of our greatest. For the record, Obama will not be another Lincoln, in my opinion. I think he'll be one of the many mediocre. Without further digression, I agree his poor performance is largely the result of inexperience in leadership. Ironically, Romney's greatest asset is his experience as Governor of Massachusetts, and to the radical wing in the GOP, that is his biggest negative. Santorum, Gingrich and Paul have no leadership experience. They only have legislative experience, just like Obama and McCain in the 2008 election. Mitch Daniels and Jon Hunstman had the strongest backgrounds, and perhaps we will see one of them in 2016 or 2020. I agree also with your prediction of 45-55, assuming continued economic improvement, however tepid. It could easily switch to 55-45.

Congratulations Scot! You're the first to properly answer the popular media question: What's wrong with Mitt Romney? The answer: very little. The problem lies with a segment of the Republican electorate that would prefer to nominate a flawed, failed politician who couldn't win the presidency over a man of proven leadership and accomplishment who could. This because of a perceived difference on a few social issues. There's no hope for them, but there may be for you after all.

conservative principles? There is only one - Whatever the Democrats are for, we're against it." Sad and pathetic.

jwin---its nice when a fair minded democratic makes a point. To say you disagree with conservatives is fine, to say they lack principles is idiotic.

He may be the most plausible, probably given your acquaintance with him, Scot. You have to admit, he does effervesce to a rather bizarre place when he's in front of an unfamiliar crowd, he has no foreign policy or military experience, and his Washington Post op-ed this past Monday was downright frightening.The bellicose rhetoric and self-alignment to Reagan was pompous. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

The problem is with both Mitt and the radical right, tea party knownothings. Yea, he is not totally beholden to the ditto head legions the rightwing noise machine has nutured over the last 30 years, but then that throng was only created to help the GOP accomplish their real objective -- siphoning even more of the nation's wealth off to the 1%. The problems Mitt faces is that he's sucked up (unconvincingly) to that rabid right mob, but more importantly, it's clear to even a majority of low-information voters that Romney is not just a tool of the greedy and power-hungry elements of the 1%, he is one of them.

Tea party members are not the problem. Its the huge institutionalized government that we have developed over the last 40 yrs. Reps and Dems become part of the club and are motivated by reelection. We need MORE independent groups like the tea party and occupiers who dont vote in step with their party. Democrats who care should welcome moderates like Brown and Romney.

The reality is that the Christian right, a huge factor in the Republican base, will never warm up to Romney due to his "Morman problem". In much of the Bible Belt, the Morman Church is looked on as a cult, and this will be huge.