Will Mitt Romney's aversion to the auto bailout hurt him in Michigan?
Will Mitt Romney鈥檚 past opposition to the auto bailouts mean trouble for him in the upcoming Michigan primary? You鈥檇 think that would be the case. Michigan鈥檚 economy is pretty much all autos, all the time. Even the Republican car executives who live in gilded Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills know that their jobs might have been nothing but tailpipe exhaust if Washington hadn鈥檛 used taxpayer cash to help GM and Chrysler.
Plus, Mr. Romney鈥檚 obviously still sensitive on the subject. He鈥檚 got an opinion piece in Tuesday鈥檚 edition of the Detroit News . In it, he says it鈥檚 鈥渋ndisputably good news鈥� that GM and Chrysler are still in business. He points out that he grew up in Michigan drinking Vernor鈥檚 ginger ale and going to Tigers games. His dad George was head of American Motors. (His campaign released a new ad emphasizing his roots in Michigan - see below)
(Have you ever had Vernor鈥檚? It鈥檚 the of soda pop. Take a sip and you鈥檒l think they made a mistake at the factory and you鈥檙e drinking undiluted ginger ale syrup base.)
Then Romney goes on to say that the managed bankruptcy that the Obama administration arranged for the Tottering Two is just what he would have done, except he would have done it differently. The unions got too sweet a deal, and the person the administration chose to run the bailouts, Steven Rattner, was 鈥渆thically challenged.鈥�
鈥淭his was crony capitalism on a grand scale. The president tells us that without his intervention things in Detroit would be worse. I believe that without his intervention things there would be better,鈥� wrote Romney.
Well, we鈥檒l say this: Romney鈥檚 argument is difficult to parse. He was against the bailout before he was for it, except not the bailout that happened, or something like that. At time of writing, the commenters on the Detroit News website weren鈥檛 buying it 鈥� they were 90 percent highly negative of Romney鈥檚 piece.
But the surprising thing is that Romney鈥檚 bailout stance might not be the reason he鈥檚 now behind Rick Santorum in polls of the Michigan GOP electorate, after all.
Public Policy Polling included a bailout question on its recent Michigan survey, and 62 percent of state GOP voters said they opposed the move. 鈥淩omney stance not bad for primary,鈥澛�.
When you add in Democrats and independents, however, Michigan voters do support the bailout, by 52 to 36 percent. So it鈥檚 an issue that could haunt Romney in the fall, if he wins the nomination.
However, the PPP survey did point out a surprising weakness for Romney in the upcoming GOP vote. Republican Michiganders do not consider the former Massachusetts governor to be one of them. He gets no home-state advantage for the years he spent watching light up the American League.
A whopping 62 percent of GOP respondents said they did not consider Romney a Michigander, according to PPP.
鈥淩omney really doesn鈥檛 have some great reservoir of goodwill in Michigan to fall back on,鈥� according to a PPP analysis.
His favorability ratings are in free fall in the as a result. Only 49 percent of likely GOP primary voters have a good impression of him, down from 61 percent last July.
That鈥檚 perhaps why Santorum has vaulted past Romney into the lead in Michigan polls. PPP has Santorum over Romney by 39 to 24 percent. An American Research Group survey has Santorum up 33 to 27 percent.
Well, for Romney there鈥檚 at least this: Maybe he doesn鈥檛 have to pretend to like Vernor鈥檚, if he really doesn鈥檛.
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