A Member of Mitt's Team "Going Rogue"

In politics, observers can learn so much from those unguarded moments. Yesterday, former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, who is a Mitt Romney campaign adviser (and I wonder why he is an adviser, as he "lost" to this political novice) blurted out that if Mitt Romney is elected president, the GOP will not repeal ObamaCare; as they “can’t, whole-cloth, throw it out.”

Norm Coleman’s “Going Rogue moment” is another example as to why Mitt Romney has a “conservative challenge.” After hearing past comments compared to this campaign, explained in Newt Gingrich’s “Pious Baloney” ad, Conservative voters do not trust him. In response, the “establishment wing” of the Republican Party tells Conservatives not to fear; as the general election candidate will only be successful by gaining a majority of independent voters. This theory has been advocated for years and its premise is false. Considering that independent voters are a smaller number than base voters, the base must be maximized in an election for them to matter, yet if the base is not energized enough to vote for someone (Romney) rather than against someone, (Obama) they will not show up at the polls, making the need for independents irrelevant. Instead, Republican candidates and their strategists should see the “base theory” in action when examining every Presidential election since 1968, as those Republicans who ran as Conservatives (Nixon, Reagan, Bush in 1988, George W. Bush) won, and those who ran as “Moderates” (Ford, Bush in 1992, McCain) lost.

If Mitt Romney wants a better chance at a primary victory and an even better chance at a general election victory, he must accept, articulate and advance Conservatism; following the pattern of his winning Republican predecessors.