HagridOfTheDeep
Junior Chimp
Posts: 8,762
Political Matrix
E: -6.19, S: -4.35
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« on: June 28, 2015, 11:49:35 AM » |
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The GOP candidate could be an unabashed moderate and still pull support from conservatives.
Look at Romney's first debate performance against Obama. Although he did a lot of maneuvering, dodged questions, and lied, he came out of that debate looking like a reasonable guy. A moderate guy. Someone Independents and even disaffected liberals could get behind. He obviously blew it later on in the campaign, but after that first debate, almost every GOPer you could imagine was touting Romney as an electable general election candidate. They were so happy and so vindicated.
And it wasn't the "severely conservative" Romney from the primaries.
So, ironically, I think the troll's comment about voters appreciating when a candidate is 100% honest is also accurate in the context of a moderate candidate. If that candidate embraces genuine moderate beliefs and is in their comfort zone doing so, then it's fine. Voters want candidates for their party who can win. Had Romney been the Romney from the first debate the whole time, he would've been in a much stronger position.
Which is way I think Jeb's strategy is actually a good one. The field is so split anyway, why not actually look like a reasonable general election winner from the beginning?
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