The Occasional Observer

Romney's campaign made an interesting strategic decision early on: they were going to focus nearly all of their initial spending in Iowa and NH to win those early primaries, in the hope that success there would cause a chain reaction of victories in subsequent primaries. I think this was a good idea for the most part, but there is a counterpoint that concerns me. Specifically, he needs to win the south to get the nomination (and more importantly have real support there so that he gets votes during the general election), but the longer he remains absent there, the longer he will simply be defined as "that Mormon from a liberal state" - which no Southerner will vote for. At some point that sentiment will reach a critical mass that no reasonable amount of ad spending and face time can overcome; he will not be able to reverse people's impressions of and beliefs about him. I just hope his campaign has taken that into account, and starts getting his message out ASAP so that Mitt defines Mitt, rather than uninformed opinions defining Mitt.