I think that he is who the establishment is rallying around at this point and he seems more likely than not to ultimately capture the nomination and I look forward to the debates between him and Obama next year. I agree with you that he is likely to put his base to sleep but I'm wondering if he might do the same to ours? A Gingrich, Perry, Santorum, et. al would definitely electrify our base as it would the GOP base. I just worry that, with Romney appearing to be more moderate if he might draw in some low-information voters as well? Also, I wonder if having Romney on the ballot might depress those "No difference between the two major parties" voters?
That's why I think that what we need the most is for President Obama and Democrats to run a more broad campaign against the GOP Tea Party and their extremist ideology that ANY of the eventual GOP nominees would be ultimately beholden to and would be pressured to support, particularly if *gulp* the entire Congress goes Mad Republican Tea Party.