Romney Has a Pulse

Just when his supporters were ready to use a defibrillator on him, Mitt Romney rose to the occasion like Frankenstein on a stormy night. Romney has always looked presidential, but with president Obama's lack of interest he was able to communicate his message in a presidential way. Those on the left will argue the facts, but the simple truth with these debates is that you want to win the image war as much as the substance war. The American people want to see a candidate that wants the job and is enthused. I believe that Obama still has the edge in the next debate. The town hall format is better suited for Obama than Romney. Despite the polls tightening the American people still like the president more than the challenger..

The real question is what will Romney do with the new energy that his campaign has? I can tell that the media loves that this is a horse race now, so how does Romney harness that and seize victory? One way that he could do this is to pick out the biggest message he is winning on and turn the campaign to a referendum on one issue. Up until last Friday this would have been jobs, but with 7.8 I think that is off the table. The one that they seem to have embraced is lack of leadership. Now this could work, but Romney needs to make a better case that he would be more qualified leader. Also, when running against an incumbent president it is very hard to do since the other guys already has the job. 

So what is the one issue that Romney could use to win? Well, in general terms he could win talking about the economy (excluding jobs). This is something that he did in the debates, but some of his points tip toed the line of pissing of the right. The best course would be to still bring up the fact that he has ran businesses. He will need to do it in a George W. Bush compassionate way though. He does not want to come off as a boss, but rather a co-worker; someone who works just as hard as you and is in it with you. This may be a hard task, but this is what he is known for and is best at. We will see what the next week holds.