Romney succeeds in his speech

Romney is feeling the heat. He's starting to go negative. Huckabee is polling second nationally.

Romney's real weakness is not Mormonism, but authenticity. From the AP:

In the end, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee threatening his lead in Iowa, Romney and his advisers agreed that the "comma problem" wasn't his biggest worry. Beyond explaining or defending his faith, aides said, Romney needed a high-profile event to show that he has a moral and political core — that he's not somebody who will say or do anything to get elected.

From the NY Times:

Afterward, Mr. Romney’s advisers said privately that they hoped the speech would help him with his other, arguably larger, obstacle: lingering questions about the firmness of his convictions given his shifting positions and tone on issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control over the years.

Mitt Romney's speech yesterday was a success. It was a success because he suckered the media into doing his dirty work for him. He announced that he was giving a speech on his Mormonism. The media then talks about for a week how horrible it would be to have a religious test for office. Yet when he gives his "big Mormon speech" it is nothing more than any other speech Romney's given, in which he completely downplays his Mormon faith; doesn't talk about it.

A good strategy, and it worked. The real message Romney wanted to communicate was that he is authentic. That's the real beef with him. It's terrible for Romney when he's compared to Huckabee on sincerity. This speech was about rebutting that a bit. Romney was able to grab the spotlight away from the Huckster this week, by telling the media that he's doing the Mormon-speech, when in fact he just wanted the spotlight.

The down-point for him is that he looks like he's on the defensive. Yet he is on the defensive. Better to admit it and fight hard than keep expectations higher than they should be.