Last night I came across an interesting column in a Florida paper by Matt Towery, the head of Insider Advantage, a GOP-affiliated polling firm. He sure doesn't sound very happy about the way things are going for Team Elephant. His take:
"Ohio, I am told by my polling friends, will be difficult if not impossible for Romney to carry. "
Virginia is only "a possibility."
In Florida, "the polls show that even following the GOP convention, the state is dead even or with a slight Obama lead." (This was BEFORE the Obama post-DNC bounce.)
Bottom line: "I've seen this movie before, and I don't like the ending."
I know: What a tired cliche. Towery attributes it to Barbara Bush, commenting on some previous campaign (1992?) So apparently there is something she thinks is worth troubling her "beautiful mind" over.
Anyway, if the GOP convention seemed to be more about jockeying for position in the 2016 GOP primaries than electing Mitt Rmoney, there is a reason for that. And if the poll numbers continue to favor Obama, even narrowly, for a few more weeks, Mitt's going to start seeing a LOT more columns like Towery's -- just as the losing GOP candidates did in 1992, 1996, and 2008.
(Heck, even ol' George DWI Bush took a little friendly fire from his own party in 2000, just because it looked like Gore was closing.)
And if Rmoney really does blow this race? The GOP establishment is absolutely going to tear him limb from limb. And then the teabaggers are going to set fire to the remains.
Say one thing for the Republicans: They have absolutely no qualms about shooting their own wounded if they think they're going to slow them down in a retreat.