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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney - Source: BBC -
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Ohio. Fundraiser. Florida. Fundraiser. Ohio. Florida. Fundraiser.
Repeat.
With six weeks to the U.S Presidential election, the path to presidency beats somewhat of repetitive loop. It's an odd time in a political campaign, unexceptional and non-momentous with few significant stage-managed events. It's a grind, and the candidates release schedules each week with so few notable distinctions they could almost be swapped out for one another.
As they crawl to November 6th, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are always in the air, rarely settling for more than a night and swinging from swing state to swing state to mobilise the relative few that will likely decide the race. They alternate between drumming up support and drumming up cash and there are actually very few opportunities to distinguish themselves as candidates in any meaningful or lasting way. With constant media saturation of their every stop and every move, constant coverage of their every statement and speech, it all adds up to unremarkable white noise.
Mitt Romney, though, has somehow defied the lull. In the last fortnight, despite the relative monotony of both campaigns, he's slipped in national polls to trail Obama by as much as five points. In Ohio, which could well be the most crucial of the swing states, polls today have Romney lagging behind by seven. In the past fortnight he's faced widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. He's languished. He's stagnated. He's struggled.
There was the post-convention bounce, which propelled Obama slightly ahead. But Romney's problems have only been compounded by his less-than-savvy responses to the few events that've broken the campaigning routine. His immediate criticism of Barack Obama following the embassy attack that killed four U.S officials in Libya was woefully misjudged in its timing and tone. As gross as it may sound, it also squandered a prime political opportunity, where with a little patience and nuance Romney could've scored political points.
Such opportunities for Romney have been few and far between. For Obama they've come served on a plate. When the hidden camera footage emerged last week of Romney candidly attacking almost half of American voters, Obama and Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden seized on the easy win. But it was a measured, cool approach. They didn't personally spout outrage, spew grand attacks or political hyperbole. The President's aids were the only officials to actually personally attack the Republican candidate. Given the hangman's lever, Obama was surprisingly quiet. He let Romney fall to his own words. It was politically ruthless.
Romney's release of his recent tax returns have compounded the negative publicity fogging his campaign. Though the taxes paid are legitimate, the release only highlights his reluctance to release several more years' worth. To the average voter, Romney still looks like he has something to hide. To the average voter, the monotony of the campaign stage is broken only by negative Romney headlines.
Romney sells himself as a businessman. He talks up his time in the private sector, not his time in Washington. He's not a career politician and he goes to lengths to remind voters of the fact.
But his very strength is also his weakness. The lull in the election campaign has been marked only by Romney's political slips. To the American voter, they've appeared most un-Presidential. And during a period of the campaign where little ground seemed likely to be won or lost either way, Romney has somehow pulled up lame.
There were will be few opportunities for redemption, the best of which comes early next month. Romney is a strong debater, and his campaign officials have been unusually open in talking up his chances. But it'll take a particularly strong showing to reverse his slipping fortunes.
Ohio. Fundraiser. Florida. Fundraiser. Ohio. Florida. Fundraiser.
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