Debate Decay and Vote By Invitation Only

1.  Romney gained on Santorum both in Michigan and nationally after last week’s debate, but PPP shows Santorum coming on strong in the last couple of days.  I suspect that part of Santorum’s surge is that the debate effect is fading and how Romney beat Santorum in the debate.  Romney outprepared and outsmarted Santorum by, among other things focusing on earmarks and blaming Santorum’s 2004 endorsement of Arlen Specter for the passage of Obamacare.  Santorum ended up getting lost in his own answers.  It made Santorum look bad and probably moved some voters with electability/competence concerns from Santorum to Romney.  But here is the thing, who did Romney convince that he has more against Obamacare than Santorum?  Anybody?  The farther we’ve gone from the debate, maybe the more some wavering voters remember that they like, respect, agree with Santorum and don’t trust anything Romney tells them.

2.  “Voting By Invitation Only” was a line by William F. Buckley and he meant it as a joke.  Romney seems to be turning it into some kind of excuse.  Romney is mad that Santorum is inviting Democrats to vote in the (open) Michigan Republican primary.   He is also saying that he is doing not-so-great among the Republican “base”  because he isn’t willing to set his “hair on fire.”   He also stands up for authenticity in politics by saying “I am who I am.”  Mmmmmm . . . that’s good irony.