Romney set to destroy the centre ground
It's one of the central truisms of US politics - politicians running for president run more towards the extremes during the primary and more towards the centre during the general election. But that's not happening this year. This was always supposed to pose a problem for Romney during the primary election phase: how to appeal enough to the right to gain the nomination, without taking positions that would prove toxic during the general election.
One solution was suggested by Romney's own senior campaign aide, Eric Fehrnstrom, the "Etch-a-Sketch" erasure of everything that had gone before. Although poorly phrased, there was nothing novel about this. Rather, it was today's media and technology environment that made this pre-videotape, pre-YouTube, pre-Comedy Central strategy sound hopelessly out-of-step and out-of-touch. Sure, the Romney campaign will still try to erase anything it can, but since it's so much harder nowadays, that won't be its primary strategy.
Instead, Romney is taking a much more radical turn: He's not moving to the centre at all. Rather, he's planning to work closely with right-wing media as part of a strategy to essentially shut off the centripetal force of general elections drawing politicians to the centre. Judd Legum at ThinkProgress brought this sharply into focus with his piece, "Romney advisers reveal strategy: Ignore journalists, pander to right-wing conspriacy websites".
Legum first sets the stage by pointing out how the first part of this strategy has been shaping up for quite some time, via Romney's well-established pattern of avoiding taking specific positions - and those who might pressure him to do so:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/2012712122146656404.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount
