Romney's Problem

Steve Singiser, the pollster at the Daily Kos, mused today that Obama's 4-point Gallup poll lead and others comes at a time when he is in negative waters with his approval rate. He asks what happens when his approval rate rises. 

You could see from David Axelrod's tweets today his glee on the Obama campaign finding Romney's weak spot. He called Romney the most secretive candidate since Richard Nixon. He recalled that Romney had all his hard drives erased when he left the governor's mansion in Massachusetts and the state did not have a record of his work when he left. Axelrod mentioned that Romney had not released the names of his bundlers for campaign cash and has not released his tax returns.

Richard Lowrey of the National Review asked today the question that has bugged me from the beginning--Why didn't Romney clean all this up when he ran the first time? 

I saw one Democratic operative on MSNBC argued this just shows Romney is part of the 1% and they act like this. That is insufficient. She is part of the 1% and I doubt whether she acts like this.

The Romney campaign sensing these stories are hurting them responded by calling the charges "frivolous and fake." But what is fake? Do the numerous overseas bank accounts exist or not? It doesn't matter whether they are legal, Romney is running for the President of the United States and should be held accountable for them and forced to explain their existence and his rationale for keeping them so long. We know he closed the $3 million account in Switzerland because the man in charge of his trust thought it didn't look good politically. But what about the rest?

Questions have been raised about Romney having $100 million in a 401-K since he worked at Bain. Most Americans know about 401-Ks and how they work. But questions have been asked how --even given the maximum contribution of $30,000 a year could he end up with $100 million. They are fancy explanations but there are also suspect ones.

Whether they like it or not, the Romney campaign will have to deal with this issue because it affects the perception of character. Newt Gingrich openly questioned Romney's overseas funds by saying,"Who ever heard of a candidate for President of the United States with a Swiss bank account?" It was buried then but it is a question that has come back to haunt Romney.

For the Obama campaign as they look at the possibility of anemic job numbers tomorrow or at least within the next two months,raising this issue and forcing Romney to grapple with it allows them the opening they need to break the race wide open before the fall. If they can do this, it forces Romney on the defensive and his campaign war chest will not be able to save him. It is probable that the Obama campaign did not see these issues jelling in a way that it has impact and now they see it they are exploiting it to the max.