Mitt's Fatal Flaw: Massachusetts

A few days ago, everyone cared about the Commonwealth. Senator McCain was here, Senator Obama was here, Senator Clinton was in Worcester, the Kennedys were everywhere. Now we won't even have our ex-governor parading around the country insulting us. It all happened so fast.

To figure out exactly what went wrong, we headed to the epicenter of right-wing commentary: the National Review. And as it turns out, Romney's defeat was caused by something we're pretty proud of: Massachusetts.

Correspondent Byron York says that, "for Republicans across the country, Massachusetts was a symbol--a symbol of the problem at the heart of Romney’s candidacy: he was from one place, ideologically, and he acted as if he were from someplace else. "

By running hard to the right, by trying to represent "the Republican wing of the Republican party," while--as York discusses at length--never quite letting voters understand his motivations and passions, Romney couldn't escape being a Massachusetts politician playing conservative dress-up. He didn't give them anything else to work with.

It's too late now--and he never asked for our advice--but this should have been Romney's campaign speech: "This is a hard year for Republicans. The economy is rough, the challenges in Iraq are tough. But I know how to get things done. That's what I do. I'm the only candidate with executive experience, I'm rich, and I'm electable--even those Commies in Massachusetts elected me. So, would you rather have me or the Clintons?" And then he should have stood there and looked presidential.

He did always look presidential.