Campaign 2008

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politics
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Track the Presidential Polls on Your iPhone
Introducing Slate's Poll Tracker '08: all the data you crave about the presidential race.posted Oct. 11, 2008
Putting Off Ayers
How Obama benefits from the cynicism he decries.
John Dickerson
posted Oct. 10, 2008
How Race Can Help Obama
And why an Obama win wouldn't be a victory over racial prejudice.
Christopher Beam
posted Oct. 10, 2008
Barack, Bill, and Me
The Bill Ayers that Barack Obama and I worked with was no "domestic terrorist."
David S. Tanenhaus
posted Oct. 10, 2008
A Republican Mob Scene
John McCain's supporters are madder (and scarier!) than he is.
John Dickerson
posted Oct. 9, 2008
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politics: Who's winning, who's losing, and why.

Romney's Achilles' HeelCan Mitt convince voters he believes anything?

By John Dickerson
Posted Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, at 7:47 PM ET

This is the fourth in a series of articles about each presidential candidate's Achilles' heel.

Mitt Romney

In the authenticity contest underway among the GOP presidential candidates, Mitt Romney recently boasted he was from "the Republican wing of the Republican party." You won't find that line in Reagan's diaries or the new Barry Goldwater film or even mumbled on the Nixon tapes. Romney was quoting Democrats. Sen. Paul Wellstone popularized the quip when talking about his party, and Howard Dean made it famous in the 2004 Democratic primary campaign. Republicans are allowed to quote only one liberal—John Kennedy—and then only when talking about the benefits of tax cuts. But Romney's appropriation of a legendary claim from the other party was perfect for the former Massachusetts governor who, despite repeatedly asserting that he is the authentic conservative in the race, is viewed by many as neither conservative nor authentic.

Mitt Romney has often undermined himself during the presidential campaign. Even as he has asserted that he is anti-abortion, he has been dogged by video clips and statements from his 1994 Senate and 2002 gubernatorial campaigns, in which he robustly defended a woman's right to have an abortion. On several other subjects there also seem to be two stories: gun control (for/against); gays (their champion/not so much); and even Ronald Reagan himself (distance/hug). The individual changes of position have caused minor irritation for him. The cumulative effect of them all is the big problem. Taken together, they suggest, as a nonaffiliated veteran of Republican politics put it, "that he has no core."

Mitt Romney's biggest problem was supposed to be his Mormon faith, but the polls don't show it—either in Iowa or nationally. These data could reflect the fact that on sensitive issues such as race and religion, people don't want to give a pollster an answer that makes them sound like a bigot. But if large numbers were truly concerned about Romney's religion, they'd pick someone else when asked who they want to be president, and Romney wouldn't be ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire polls and climbing in South Carolina.

But ask voters about Romney's flip-flops, and they speak out loud. In a recent Des Moines Register poll, likely caucus attendees listed Romney's multiple positions as his biggest liability—on par with Rudy Giuliani's pro-choice stance on abortion. In a Pew Center poll, only 12 percent of respondents thought of Mitt Romney when the word honest was presented to them, the lowest of the four major Republican candidates. A Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that only 13 percent of Republicans find Mitt Romney honest and trustworthy, also the lowest of the four major Republican candidates. A CNN/Opinion Research poll found that 15 percent of adults found Mitt Romney to be the most honest—again, the bottom of the field.

Like all of the big questions that dog the candidates, this problem has been with Romney for a while—even before the presidential race. "He's not pro-choice or anti-choice," said Senate opponent Ted Kennedy in 1994. "He's multiple choice." Romney hasn't been able to dispense with questions about his constancy, and the concerns are only becoming more relevant as Republicans fight over which candidate is a more genuine conservative.

As John Kerry learned painfully in 2004, calling someone a phony works, no matter the topic under discussion. John McCain was the first opponent to raise the issue during a debate with Romney about immigration. "I haven't changed my position on even numbered years or because of the different offices I've been running for," McCain said. In the last week, McCain has issued the same charge again and again. In a GOP debate last week, Rudy Giuliani ended an exchange with Romney over the line-item veto by saying, "You have to be honest with people, and you can't fool all the people all the time.