Are Republican Governors Defecting?

[ClydeR]

Neil King, Jr. has a strong piece on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal about a dynamic that I've mentioned in several contexts over the past few weeks but haven't given the full-on focus it deserves: the growing dissonance between what Mitt Romney is telling swing-state voters about the economy and what they are hearing from their Republican governors:

A recent TV spot that ran for weeks in Virginia had all the makings of an ad touting President Barack Obama's re-election effort. "Virginia is growing strong again, and so is our future," gushed the narrator, adding that Virginians were now enjoying "the lowest unemployment rate in over three years."

Far from an Obama campaign plug, the ad was paid for by Republican donors and narrated by Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, a potential running mate of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

More... (http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/104070/the-great-republican-swing-state-dissonance-problem)

Well they're not exactly defecting, but they're sure grumbling and being uncooperative.

[ClydeR]

As I was saying..


Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.

What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.

Scott should follow the advice of the Romney campaign and it won’t undermine his own message, said Mac Stipanovich, a political strategist and lobbyist in Florida.

“This is one of those situations where you could have it both ways and there’s enough truth in it that it would resonate,” Stipanovich said. “It would be better if everybody was singing from the same hymnal.”

More... (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-21/romney-campaign-said-to-ask-scott-to-downplay-job-gains.html)

The same hymnal. That's some mighty fine imagery.