Romney Reservations

With his convincing Granite State primary victory yesterday, it's looking more and more like Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for this fall's election.  If so, he'll win or lose while engendering the least amount of excitement among the party faithful since the candidacy of, well, I guess since the candidacy of John McCain just four years ago.  But before that...oh...W wasn't exactly a barn-burner either, was he?  Bob Dole?  ZZzz   George the First?  zzzz 

OK, since Reagan, the GOP hasn't exactly nominated any leg-tingling standard bearers, has it?

BUT, and this is VERY important, that slate of candidate's inability to produce enthusiastic supporters had in every case less, MUCH less, to do with their lack of rhetorical skill than it had to do with their various departures from conservative orthodoxy.

In Romney's case, those departures have been serious and all-too-public, which makes pretending they're not what they are, or never happened at all, difficult, if not impossible.

As a result, with a Romney nomination, the best hope for Republicans this fall will be that the Democrats will suffer from a similar absence of ardor.