Romney used his concession speech here to push his latest message (which, like other messages, he's demonstrating his commitment to with a new sign), which is that Washington is broken, politicians stink, and he is definitely not a politician:Washington is fundamentally broken ... We're not going to change Washington by sending the same people back just to sit in different chairs ... It's time for the politicians to leave Washington and for the citizens to take over.
Of course, it's an unsubtle dig at McCain, who's been in Washington for quite some time. But it's also an interesting turn in his messaging. With Huckabee and Giuliani, essentially out of the picture now, the race is down to McCain and Romney. Romney's trying to cast himself as some kind of outsider untainted by The Establishment. Meanwhile, in reality land, it's McCain that The Establishment has a problem with, while they seem to be anointing Romney as their next golden boy. To ensure that, Romney also threw in some pandering to Bush in his speech: "Let's point out to those who criticize President Bush that it's thanks to him we've been safe these last six years."
And of course Romney's campaign staffers are trying to push the delusion that McCain is some kind of liberal. Chatting with campaign volunteer Paul Erickson after the speech, he was sure to point out that "Now the conservative movement has a chance to consolidate around a single candidate, Mitt Romney, to save the Reagan legacy."
I also ran into my Rednecks for Romney associate again, who said Romney's failure here was not getting out enough of the redneck voting bloc. "I'm going to have to go shake the bushes," he said. "That's the difference – the redneck vote."
--Kate Sheppard
