Insert sports analogy here....

It is fairly clear that now everyone knows that Mitt Romney's campaign for President has melted down. And all of the Republicans say that Mitt's in charge.

If this is true, then Governor Romney has taken a campaign that he could have won and created a loss from victory. He very neatly avoided all of those prickly details about where he stands on the issues that affect America. He completely evaded those pesky facts, running a campaign was based about as loosely on facts as any campaign I have ever witnessed.

Voter Suppression enthusiast
John Hustead

His henchmen have been busy, too. They were successful, mostly, in 2000 in suppressing voter turnout so that it looked like Bush was winning. As it turns out, when the AP did a recount, Bush actually lost Florida and ought to not have been elected against Al Gore, but he got some help from partisans on the Supreme Court (yes, that's right, Justice Alito, I think you are partisan). Now, they have a multi-state program to suppress voting in Pennsylvania—where older people tend to vote Democratic—Florida—where Hispanic-named people vote Democratic—and Ohio—minorities like early voting and if you limit polling hours and keep the polls closed on weekends, you can run the minority vote out of time.

It looks like the Ohio gambit didn't work, as Secretary of the State John Hustead was embarrassed by the media when he tried to keep polls open for Republican voting counties, while closing the polls for the counties that vote the other way.

So now the blame game happens and it's like blaming a coach for the failure of his quarterback or his center who has fouled out. And Republicans are sniping from the sidelines, doing everything from "distancing themselves" despite similar statements (as in the case of wrestling plutocrat Linda McMahon in Connecticut) to outright disagreement (as in the case of Senator Scott Brown, who is in a very tight race in Massachusetts).

Now you'd expect that with moderate Republicans (scarce as hen's teeth these days). But Conservatives have been falling all over themselves to criticize Romney for statements he made in the Mother Jones tape from a fundraiser. People who "can be relied on," like Ron Paul, David Frum, Andrew Sullivan, David Brooks, Rod Dreher, Brink Lindsey, Kathleen Parker, Bruce Bartlett, Peggy Noonan and Bill Kristol have been falling all over themselves criticizing the Romney campaign.

Why is he melting down? They had their act together. Mitt Romney is a very well-disciplined candidate who has been running for President for the last six years. He ought to be a known commodity.

The problem is that Governor Romney has tried to re-define himself as the ultra-conservative candidate his party really wants. And that flies in the face of what he did as Governor in Massachusetts, it flies in the face of statements he made when he was running for Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat and it flies in the  face of everything we used to think Romney was all about.

And that bothers Conservatives. They just don't trust him.

Of course the big trust "whopper" Romney has been telling us has to do with his tax returns. "Just trust me" was a big problem when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts, because he told everyone to trust him that he had been filing as a Massachusetts resident. In fact, he didn't, and had to amend his returns in order to qualify to run for Governor.

When it comes to anything Governor Romney would like to be left private, there is a huge trust issue. He has been proven untrustworthy in the past.

So when does the team quit? I'm figuring it will be after the second debate. The Republican Party hung Bob Dole out to dry in October, 1996 when he was running against Clinton. They decided then that the best strategy would be to try to hang on to the House and Senate. So they withdrew money from the Dole campaign (leaving that in deficit) and went all-out to retain Congress. Senator Dole was not amused.

Romney cannot win debates against President Obama. He didn't do all that well in the debates against Republican opponents and he has a tendency to allow opposing candidates to define him. At the very most, all Romney can hope for is a draw in the debates. And the third debate, on foreign policy is a giveaway. I doubt if the Republican establishment will stick with him that long.

It's anyone's guess as to whether or not the Coach will bench him or let him come out for another run to try to win the next game. This is one team player who simply isn't going to "win one for the Gipper."