The media tut-tuts about the ebbs and flows of the polls in the presidential race because – well, because that’s what the media does. But, in fact, if you look at every presidential race going back over the years when the incumbent party was defeated or almost defeated – 1948, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2008 – most of them had some truly wild rides, many starting in September (the only real exception was 1960).

So let’s look beyond the polls and think about what Mitt Romney needs to do so that – when the polls finally stop bouncing – he lands on top. I think he needs to look very carefully at three previous presidential candidates and emulate them.