Romney Gaining

UPDATE: This is an amazing insight (of course it's Mark Steyn) There's more, but here's this:

Rich, the other day I found myself thinking of that line of Bush's from the 2000 campaign, where he said of McCain something like you can't claim the high horse and then take the low road. And everyone mocked Bush for mangling his metaphors or misquoting "Loch Lomond" or whatever. But with hindsight it seems to get to the essence of the McCain style.

Personally I find the idea of running explicitly as a "man of honor" rather unseemly, and more than a little reminiscent of Emerson's line that "the louder he proclaimed his honor, the faster we counted the spoons" - the spoons in this case being campaign finance, illegal immigration, global warming, Big Pharma demonization, etc.

I agree.

UPDATE: CNN Senior political analyst takes McCain to task:

UPDATE: Mitt Romney goes after McCain on McCain-Lieberman. FoxNews (with video) (very cute background noise--even Florida's birds are for Romney):(more updates below)

“Instead of seeing if there’s a way of stimulating the economy, McCain-Lieberman would depress the economy. His plan calls for a new financial burden to be placed on people who are purchasing gasoline or for that matter natural gas to heat their homes or to cook in their homes. The energy information agency has said that his plan would cost America 300,000 jobs. In addition, people would pay, they estimate, approximately 50 cents per gallon more for gasoline and 20% more for their gas utility bill.

That would depress the economy just at a time when we’re trying to stimulate the economy,” Romney continued, tearing into McCain on his understanding of the economy, “One of the challenges with having a president who in this case, we’re talking in this case, a presidential candidate, who says on repeated occasion that he doesn’t understand the economy terribly well is that he would suggest a policy that would actually depress the economy rather than stimulate it at the very time we need our economy to have a greater boost. “

Seniors are of course an important voting bloc in the Sunshine State, and with the economy stalling Romney's idea of relieving the economic burden on seniors--encouraging them to work and save, has gotten him some traction.

Two new polls, showing Romney up 6 since the last Rasmussen reading, vs. McCain up 4 points: 33-27 advantage Romney. Reuters/Zogby has Romney gaining 2, McCain off 1--the race there is tied. Seniors went for Mitt in the Zogby poll.

Edging McCain in momentum and the percentage, the RCP average is now plus .4 for Mitt.

Rasmussen's daily tracking poll for the first time also has Governor Romney tied nationally with Sen. McCain--no one else is even close. While taken before the endorsement of McCain by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist last night, Gov. Romney has the support of a number of former Florida Gob. Jeb Bush's key people.

From WaPo's The Trail, "Romney Seeks Shift Back to the Economy":

A day after Senator John McCain blasted his position on Iraq, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney changed the subject to his favorite issue, the economy. Romney suggested a bill to combat global warming McCain has authored would lead to increases in prices for gas, repeated criticisms of McCain's votes against tax cuts the Bush administration advocated in 2001 and 2003 and suggested McCain did not understand the economy as well as the Romney, who ran a Boston venture capital firm before entering politics.

"I simply don't think the people of Florida are going to say the nominee of our party ought to be a person who on more than one occasion has expressed a lack of understanding of our economy," Romney said at a press conference following a rally at community center in a Cuban area here where the usually button-downed candidate wore untucked a Guayabera, a kind of shirt popular in Latin America. Romney added, "I understand he's anxious to try and see if he can change the topic away from the economy. I'm going to remind him of his statements time and again about his lack of understanding of the economy."

Romney also received notable endorsements this weekend from former Fredheads, former Indiana Congressman and Federalist Society co-founder David McIntosh and Liz Cheney, daughter of the Vice President, mother of 5, and former State Dept. official, charged with outreach to women leaders in the Middle East. Jason tracks more endorsements here, including influential conservative blogger Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters:

Rudy and Romney have led entire organizations in both the public and private sectors, with Romney getting the best in this area. They have had the buck stop at their desk. Both Rudy and Romney have transformed failing entities (New York City and the Salt Lake City Olympics). McCain led 400 men, but he answered to commanders above him at several levels while doing so, and I have yet to see an argument for transformation under McCain's leadership.

Why is this important? The Democrats have no one who can match that experience.

This is an important point. America values executive experience--that's why we almost always elect Governors rather than Senators, given a choice.

The Politico covers McCain-Romney battle on the Sunday talk shows. I saw Huckabee on FoxNews being a slimy skunk as usual, questioning Mitt's integrity. Gov. Romney fielded questions on the economy today from Wolf Blitzer, batting back Sen. McCain's claims of leadership in the Senate--"If he's been a leader, where'd he lead us?":

UPDATE: CNN , "Republicans eye Florida for Super Tuesday momentum" :

Romney, however, did not hold back during an interview on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"I think they'd find a race against me to be the most challenging," he said of the Democrats. Contrasting himself against Sen. Barack Obama, he said, "My record of accomplishment, compared with his rhetoric, is going to be a pretty stark contrast."

Romney ripped into McCain.

"I'm all about the future, all about progress for America. Sen. McCain is somebody who's been there for 25 years. He can talk about the past better than anybody I know, but I don't believe that America wants to turn back."

UPDATE: Tom Bevan, RCP Blog on the post-Florida delegate math.

UPDATE: AP:

In Fla., Romney Focuses on Economy: SWEETWATER, Fla. (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney sought to lock up the Florida primary by refusing to talk Sunday about little else but the economic jitters confronting the nation. His rivals took different tacks toward the same goal as they fanned out across the Sunshine State.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, lashed top rival John McCain for admitting less familiarity with the economy than foreign affairs, telling an earsplitting rally outside Miami: "No one needs to give me a briefing on the economy. I won't need to choose a vice president that understands the economy—because I know the economy. [snip]

Romney held only one public event, a rally in a Cuban-American community. Introduced by his son Craig, who spoke Spanish, the former governor wore Cuban-style guayabera shirt given to him by officials at a Bay of Pigs Museum.

He recalled starting his venture capital firm with support from Latin Americans, including a family from El Salvador whose son was kidnapped and killed by rebels thought to be supported by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"I learned that when Castro has money, bad things happen, and I vowed that I would never give in to Fidel Castro, nor must we ever," he said to cheers.

UPDATE: More on McCain's below the belt attack on Romney. In case you missed this, Sen. McCain himself went further in suggesting benchmarks a year ago.

UPDATE: CBS campaign blog:

Wearing a guayabera shirt that was given to him by Luis Arrizurieta, a Bay of Pigs veteran, Romney stood next to Josefina Carvajal, a Miami schoolteacher and Romney supporter, who would pay no payroll taxes under Romney’s economic stimulus plan, since she’s over the age of 65.

“The idea of lower taxes for senior citizens I think is a good idea,” Romney said. “It encourages seniors to stay in the workforce and it also can expand the size of our workforce, creating more jobs.”

UPDATE: NRO's The Campaign Spot with comments and Romney rebuttal to McCain's statements on taxes on MTP this morning.

UPDATE: In case you weren't aware, Miss America is from Michigan:)

UPDATE: Patterico with reaction to Captain Ed's endorsement of Romney and comments.

UPDATE: More thoughts on McCain's lie from blogger Slublog.

UPDATE: A Florida voter asks McCain about his open-borders outreach director. Michelle Malkin

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