Romney Campaign Has Some Conservatives Angry — Why Isn’t He Beating Obama?
Mitt Romney should be cruising at this point, and the fact that the once-tight race is now turning decidedly toward President Obama has many conservatives upset at how the Republican is running his campaign.
With a sluggish economy and conservative enthusiasm to beat the Democrat, the fact that Mitt Romney can’t break through has many upset, The Associated Press reported.
“He ought to be killing Obama, and he’s clearly not doing that,” said 32-year-old R.J. Robinson, an activist attending the Values Voters Summit this weekend. “He should be doing better.”
The annual gathering, sponsored by the Family Research Council, turned up many people upset at how Mitt Romney’s campaign is being run, The Associated Press noted.
As the report notes:
These so-called values voters are a core part of the Republican base. They have never fully warmed to the former Massachusetts governor, who previously supported abortion rights and is a Mormon, a faith many evangelicals view skeptically. Even so, many said they were cheered by Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a social and fiscal conservative hero to many in this group, as a running mate. They said they were rallying behind the Republican ticket, though mostly because of a desire to beat a Democratic president they like less than the Republican nominee. These activists said they’re launching bus tours, signing up voters and offering to organize in their churches to help the GOP win.
Many of the GOP’s base have not been so kind with Mitt Romney, The Huffington Post noted. Bryan Fischer, part of conservative Christian group American Family Association, said that Romney is running a “lackluster campaign” with no real ideas and was stifling running mate Paul Ryan.
“Mitt Romney right now should be leading by 10 or 15 points and the fact that he’s not is Mitt Romney’s problem,” Fischer told reporters at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. “It’s because he’s running such a lackluster campaign that has been so vague on ideas. What plan is he offering the American people?”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who talked with Romney one-on-one about two months ago, said he told the Republican nominee he would do what he could to energize pastors and the religious right.
“When it comes to evangelicals and Mormons, we have theological differences, and they’re significant, and we’re not going to gloss over those,” Perkins said. “But we have a shared concern for this country. And we have a shared set of values that can help get the nation back on track. And that’s what he is emphasizing and that’s what I think he needs to continue to emphasize to draw social conservatives into his campaign.”
But Mitt Romney hasn’t been helping himself very much on the campaign front, either. His criticism of Obama’s handling of the anti-American anger in Libya and Egypt have earned him criticism from both sides if the aisle.
