It’s been a rough week for Mitt Romney and his presidential campaign. He has badly, and inexplicably, fumbled the questions about his tax returns and what might be in them. He has seemed unprepared for attack on his record at Bain Capital–attacks he had to know were coming. And Newt Gingrich has returned to form as “the vandal he was born to be, the political arsonist among the abandoned tenements of Republican thought…”. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/newt-gingrich-south-carolina-headquarters-6642181
He didn’t ask (in Mitt’s defense, there are plenty of reasons he shouldn’t), but if I were writing Mitt Romney’s speeches, here’s what I’d suggest for the speech he’s most likely going to have to give tonight:
*Make it early: the polls close at 7 pm. Give the speech at 8:00, 9:00 at the latest.
*Keep it short: 5 minutes, 7 minutes max.
*Put it in context: We took our campaign to the Midwest, and ran strong in Iowa. We took our campaign to the Northeast, and ran strong in NH. We came to the South, and now we’ve run strong in SC–the only campaign demonstrating broad support in all regions of the country. The only campaign prepared to take on Barack Obama in all 50 states and defeat him in November.
*Pivot: Now on to Florida! (Fly there tonight. Spend all day Sunday hitting every local Florida media market you can.)
Like I said, he didn’t ask me but that’s what I’d suggest. What do you think? (Consider this an open thread for comments on the South Carolina election, and the presidential race in general.)
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/