Romney vs. O'Malley

[Suburbia]

Who would win in this matchup? Discuss with maps.

[Vega]

Probably the best map that Romney could get.

[Maxwell]

Are you kidding me? The beat that O'Malley would get from Romney would be brutal, and I think Romney is an incompetent bum.

[New_Conservative]

I think Romney wins, will O'Malley energize the Democratic base as much as Obama or Hilary? I don't really think so.

[NewYorkExpress]

Third time would be the charm for Mitt, as O'Malley is a horrible nominee.

Mitt Romney/Marco Rubio 281
Martin O'Malley/Maria Cantwell 257

[Lief 🗽]

Turnout would be like 15%.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Horrible turnout all around, and Romney wins with something like 290 electoral votes.

Would be hilarious, but it would require both parties to fall down on the job in an unbelievable way.

[Mister Mets]

O'Malley would be a generic Democrat running to get his party a third term in the White House.

This would be a much more favorable situation for Romney in 2012, when he ran against a talented incumbent President.

The default map would be Romney flipping Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Iowa, given how clustered those states are.

O'Malley would likely overperform in Virginia.

Romney/ Ernst- 292 Electoral Votes
O'Malley/ Klobuchar- 246 Electoral Votes

That's the median map. In the right circumstances, Romney could win in a landslide. Or O'Malley could win (although likely with less states than Obama in 2012.)

[Never]

O'Malley would be a generic Democrat running to get his party a third term in the White House.

This would be a much more favorable situation for Romney in 2012, when he ran against a talented incumbent President.

The default map would be Romney flipping Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Iowa, given how clustered those states are.

O'Malley would likely overperform in Virginia.

Romney/ Ernst- 292 Electoral Votes
O'Malley/ Klobuchar- 246 Electoral Votes

That's the median map. In the right circumstances, Romney could win in a landslide. Or O'Malley could win (although likely with less states than Obama in 2012.)

This looks about right. I suppose O'Malley winning Virginia wouldn't necessarily be out of the question in this kind of matchup, especially since he would have the geographic advantage over a Romney/Ernst ticket on that front. Ernst would be an interesting pick for Romney, but an entirely plausible one considering that the latter endorsed the former. After seeing your map, I wonder which states you think would be closest in this matchup. Off the bat, I'd guess Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Virginia.

[Representative Joe Mad]

It would be a terrible, depressing election in which Romney would win.

[KCDem]

Romney would have no chance against anyone.

[Cryptic]

O'Malley: 294
Romney: 244

Both candidates are uninspiring and turnout will be horrendously low all around.  In the end, though, Romney has already been shown as a loser on the national stage, while O'Malley hasn't.  That I think would put the odds slightly more in O'Malley's favor.

[eric82oslo]

I think Romney wins, will O'Malley energize the Democratic base as much as Obama or Hilary? I don't really think so.

Of course not, no Democratic candidate could energize the base quite like Obama and Hillary. However, he would energize it much more than Cuomo and Schweitzer for instance. O'Malley is a true Democrat in every sense of the word, more than you can say of many others. O'Malley's biggest hinder is that he lacks charisma and great communication skills, plus most people not exactly hungering for yet another white middle-aged male president.

I do believe he would beat Romney, but only very, very barely. It would be the closest race since 2000 for sure.

[Liberalrocks]

While O'Malley would be an incredibly weak and boring candidate, Willard Mitt Romney has a way of throwing away what he perhaps should win on paper just by being well...Mitt Romney.

O'Malley-Kloubuchar 270 Electoral Votes 48.4%
Romney-Thune         268 Electoral Votes  50.2 %
Others                                                         1.4%

Very low voter turnout and expected underwhelming campaign run by O'Malley who consistently trails in most opinion polls leading up to the vote. O'Malley dumps money into Virginia and being his home region narrowly wins. He also narrowly holds Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with the help of Klobuchar, however he loses neighboring Iowa. Romney wins many states with stronger margins then 2012 and notably the national popular vote by over a million votes but loses in the electoral college. Additional post election night suspense comes from making sure that all democratic electors faithfully vote for the O'Malley ticket if one defects the election is thrown into the house where Romney would no doubt prevail.

[Cory]

Third time would be the charm for Mitt, as O'Malley is a horrible nominee.

Mitt Romney/Marco Rubio 281
Martin O'Malley/Maria Cantwell 257

[RR1997]

O'Malley is an incredibly boring candidate who strikes me as a generic Democrat, and I think that most Americans wouldn't like that. Plus I believe that O'Malley is very gaffe prone. Romney wins this by a comfortable margin.

Willard "Mitt" Romney: 281 EV's
Martin O'Malley: 233 EV's
Tossup: 24 EV's

[Thomas D]

O'Malley 275-263

I've been Watching O'Malley since he ran for mayor in 1999. He's not great. But he's stronger than many of you are giving him credit for. And Romney isn't even as good a candidate as Ehrlich. And O'Malley beat him twice.

[sentinel]

While I'm not a huge fan, I think people underestimate O'Malley. He's a lot more charismatic and human than robotic Mitt Romney. Shouldn't underestimate Romney either, or the feelings of the electorate.

Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) / Former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice (R-NY) - 278 EV
Former Governor Martin O'Malley (D-MD) / Senator Michelle Nunn (D-GA) - 260 EV

I would anticipate the popular vote being very tight.

[IceSpear]

America is not ready for an etch a sketch president.

But really, I don't know who wins. It would probably be close and depend on the political environment. I'd probably give Romney a slight edge since Republicans would turn out to vote for horse poop (R) no matter what, whereas O'Malley might have trouble energizing Democrats.

Romney - 272
O'Malley - 266

[SWE]

This is one of the few match-ups O'Malley would win.

[NHI]

√ Romney/Ernst: 285 (51%)
O'Malley/Baldwin: 253 (48%)