Morning Jay: Romney's Strategic Advantages

The prospect of Mitt Romney winning the Republican nomination has many conservatives anxious. AWR Hawkins of BigGovernment sums up the sentiment well when he writes:

Mitt Romney is always quick to lambast other Republicans for being career politicians, as if this is his first rodeo and he is a political newcomer. However, the truth is he’s been in politics for over seventeen years, many of which have been spent appealing to liberals and moderates and fighting to keep from being identified with Ronald Reagan.

Talk to enough conservatives, and you’ll hear basically the same sentiment sooner or later: Romney is a smooth operator, but they are not sure he’s a bona fide conservative. Abortion was his major stumbling block in 2008, and this cycle it is the Massachusetts health care plan.