COMMENTARY | Former Massachusetts governor and G.O.P. hopeful Mitt Romney launched a short private event tour in California Tuesday. According to the Associated Press, Romney started his trip at a hotel in Sacramento, where co-hosts of a private event were asked to raise at least $10,000. In 2008, Romney, who owns a beach home in San Diego, raised over $8 million from supporters in the Golden State -- more than from any other state -- and he hopes to capitalize on that again. He's going to have to if he wants to win the White House during an election year where the sitting president is expected to spend $1 billion.
Romney also has stopovers planned in Beverly Hills and San Francisco, all events private, with names on the invitation list including people like long-time friend Meg Whitman, former CEO of Ebay and recent gubernatorial candidate, as well as billionaire George Argyros, reports The Daily Beast. Whitman is helping the former governor with his national fundraising drive.
Romney should do well in California, a state that typically leans left but which maintains Republican hot zones such as San Diego County. In 1980, Democrats frustrated with President Carter banded together for former Republican governor Ronald Reagan, and many feel that it was the effort of the "Reagan Democrats" that pushed him over the top, compelling him to the White House, reports the Washington Post.
As the most moderate candidate running so far in the wide field for the GOP campaign, Romney will likely pick up typically Democratic votes from those less than eager to re-elect lackluster President Obama. In fact, because Christian conservatives who make up a large and noisy voting block are unlikely to support a Mormon for the White House, Romney has to pick up Democratic support to stem the tide. Romney, like John Kennedy in 1960, has repeatedly stated that his religion won't be a factor in his decision making.
Romney's biggest recommendation to California Democrats might be, however, that he successfully governed very Democratic Massachusetts, the first state to allow same-sex marriage, though Romney is himself, against it. Same-sex marriage is an issue dear to most California Democrats, and the Massachusetts stance may provide cover for the less accepting Romney. Massachusetts residents also enjoy a successful universal health coverage program. Health care is President Obama's Achilles heel; Romney has a leg up on the issue, at least among Democrats.
Possibly signaling to Democrats that he is interested in their vote, Romney recently refused to take the "pro-life pledge" that most others seeking the G.O.P nomination have taken, assuring voters that if elected president they would only appoint pro-life judges. Romney has said that he is against abortion and but also supports a woman's "right to choose." He has taken a different position since, saying that he's changed his mind, but overall, he is simply not a hardliner.
Romney may become the nominee to his party, but because he doesn't take the hard line on social issues that others in his party are taking, the more moderate Republican is going to have to cross party lines if he wants to be president of the United States. California, the largest state in the union, might just be a good place to start. There is a sense among some Democrats, including this one, that the current president is ineffectual and that with the absence of a challenge for the Democratic primary, we have to make a change; from a field of scary options, Mitt Romney is possibly the least scary of them all.
