Politics: The Secret of Mitt Romney?s Success

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Politics The Secret of Mitt Romney's Success Smile at the conservatives. Then ignore them. By John Dickerson Posted Thursday, Nov 01, 2012, at 08:33 PM ET If Mitt Romney wins the election, it will be because he ignored conservatives. After he won the primaries, many of the most prominent voices in the movement plead with him to run loud and proud as a conservative and to campaign overtly on conservative ideas. He never did that, and he's ending the campaign on a moderate note, a move his strategists believe will capture the disaffected Obama voters he needs to win the election. The strategy appears to render a verdict on a long-standing debate in conservative circles over whether candidates can campaign on conservative ideas like privatizing Social Security, offering Medicare vouchers, or drastically shrinking the social safety net. It also gives us some limited insight into the inner heart of Mitt Romney and how he might govern. At least tactically, he's acted pragmatically, not ideologically. Starting in the spring and spilling over into the summer, Romney got a regular dose of advice from the most prominent public conservatives: Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page. They all counseled him that he couldn't win on a platform of not being Barack Obama. He had to unfurl the conservative banner, and proclaim these bold ideas from the rooftops. When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall vote, it seemed to ratify the idea that a person could govern as an unabashed conservative. Walker said that the one lesson from the recall was that he should have been more open about his plans ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate How Fast Can the Obama Campaign Spend Your Salary? Why the "Rape Thing" Haunts Republicans Sandy's Toll on Medical Research	Advertisement
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