Here’s a question for you: what will be most important during the General Election? Winning the Independent vote or solidifying the base of your party?
It’s going to take a little of both but this idea that you have to ONLY court Independents to win elections just isn’t true. Without the base with you, Independents won’t matter.
Mitt Romney cannot make the mistake of consistently tracking to the middle in a quest to appeal to Independent voters. He needs to engage more forcefully with evangelicals and the Tea Party if he has any real shot at winning.
Coming across as a common sense businessman is easy for Romney so Independent voters will naturally gravitate to that type of candidate. Romney’s real work is when he has to go a little outside his comfort zone and really engage by showing up at Tea Party events and evangelical pro-family led events.
Romney has done a few of these but it’s not necessarily his cup of tea (excuse the pun). Just because he shows up at these events doesn’t mean he has to resort to throwing political red meat and verbal barbs that will rile up the base but possibly turn off Independents. That’s not who he is.
But just showing up can cast a nice new narrative for Romney. The media is always looking for the next turn in the soap opera. Romney has an opportunity to give them one.