How does Mitt Romney convince voters that, contra President Obama’s campaign, he’s not a rapacious capitalist or right-wing extremist bent on destroying the middle class? His best bet might simply be reminding them he was once governor of Massachusetts.
Romney’s single term as chief executive of the Bay State, a four-year stint marked by bipartisan achievement, is a potentially key asset of his biography, one that tempers criticism that he’s an out-of-touch businessman. Even as the Obama campaign, as it has done in earnest over the last week, scrutinizes his record there — a line of attack that no doubt has possible potency — the former governor could ultimately benefit from the extra attention.
In fact, Team Obama is highlighting a part of Romney’s resume that he himself has largely avoided mentioning. During the GOP presidential primary, it made sense for the candidate whom conservatives viewed warily to forgo mentioning his tenure in the blue state of Massachusetts and certainly his support of a health care bill that included, like Obama’s, a mandate to buy health insurance. But what was a negative for Republican hard-liners might morph into a positive for general election moderates.
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