Tomorrow there will be Republican primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). These decisions should all go into the Romney column and put an end to the Santorum fantasy candidacy.
But, it will then be time for Mitt Romney to get busy with his wavering constituencies - moderate Republicans, independents, women and Hispanics.
The grinding primary season, far too long and divisive to help whoever the winner would have been, has been particularly hard on these natural Romney supporter groups. To ward off the right wing attacks coming from Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Romney has had to move to the right on social conservative issues such as abortion, same sex marriage, immigration and contraceptive availability.
Anyone with any sense of where Mitt Romney comes from politically must know that he is a moderate conservative on all these issues, preferring to let them be settled outside the political arena when possible. His instincts are right here because, as I have noted before, they are simply not politically solvable issues but rather religious beliefs - and no one is going to give an inch on his or her principles. But, the result has been to alienate women and Hispanics and the gay community.
The plain truth is that neither Romney nor any other GOP presidential candidate can win if women and Hispanics vote against him. So, Romney must mend fences with these voters even while he is holding on to the social conservative right wing of the GOP.
This is not going to be easy, and the sooner Santorum stops his attack dog running commentary against Romney on these issues, the better the GOP chances of moving into the White House in November will be.
But, Romney needs more...and he has one weapon that will be extremely useful, his wife. Mrs. Romney should waste no time getting out onto the women's circuit, making the case that her husband is not the arch anti-woman conservative he is being made out to be. Anne Romney can deliver this message with the warmth and openness that are her trademarks, and she will be credible.
As for the Hispanic vote - the answer seems so obvious that it's almost a waste of time to write it. Romney needs Florida Senator Marco Rubio on his ticket as the VP candidate. Rubio can deliver the Hispanic vote, with his meaningful and honest representation of this group which has become very important in GOP politics. And, I don't think Romney ought to wait until the convention to name Rubio. He should do it as soon as he has the delegate vote count sewn up, thus giving Senator Rubio the chance to work his constituency over a longer period.
As Hannibal said on the "A-Team", "I like it when a plan comes together."
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