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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Mitt Romney's campaign has concluded that the 2012 election will not be decided by elusive, much-targeted undecided voters — but by the motivated partisans of the Republican base.
This shifting campaign calculus has produced a split in Romney's message. His talk show interviews and big ad buys continue to offer a straightforward economic focus aimed at traditional undecided voters. But out stumping day to day is a candidate who wants to talk about patriotism and God, and who is increasingly looking to connect with the right's intense, personal dislike for President Barack Obama.
Three Romney advisers told BuzzFeed the campaign's top priority now is to rally conservative Republicans, in hopes that they'll show up on Election Day, and drag their less politically-engaged friends with them. The earliest, ambiguous signal of this turn toward the party's right was the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, a top Romney aide said.
"This is going to be a base election, and we need them to come out to vote," the aide said, explaining the pick.
Another adviser, who also discussed strategy on the condition of anonymity, described the campaign's key targets as Republican activists: "The people who are going to talk to their neighbors, drive them to the polls on Election Day, and hold their hands on the way in to vote."
Asked last week about Romney bringing culture-war rhetoric into his stump speeches, adviser Kevin Madden dismissed the notion that it represented a strategic shift, and said while the economy is still the primary focus, the candidate will continue to talk about other issues he finds "important."
This attention to the base is a flashback to the politics of the last decade, in which George W. Bush won a narrow re-election with the help of conservative voters. But some Democrats have recently begun to speak in similar terms: Democratic Governors Association Chairman Martin O'Malley told BuzzFeed last week that Democrats had abandoned the search for "the magic argument for the three percent that are undecided" and begun to "just tell the base why you're doing what you're doing and why you're better than the other guy."
Continue Reading Here: Romney's New Strategy Turns Right
This shifting campaign calculus has produced a split in Romney's message. His talk show interviews and big ad buys continue to offer a straightforward economic focus aimed at traditional undecided voters. But out stumping day to day is a candidate who wants to talk about patriotism and God, and who is increasingly looking to connect with the right's intense, personal dislike for President Barack Obama.
Three Romney advisers told BuzzFeed the campaign's top priority now is to rally conservative Republicans, in hopes that they'll show up on Election Day, and drag their less politically-engaged friends with them. The earliest, ambiguous signal of this turn toward the party's right was the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, a top Romney aide said.
"This is going to be a base election, and we need them to come out to vote," the aide said, explaining the pick.
Another adviser, who also discussed strategy on the condition of anonymity, described the campaign's key targets as Republican activists: "The people who are going to talk to their neighbors, drive them to the polls on Election Day, and hold their hands on the way in to vote."
Asked last week about Romney bringing culture-war rhetoric into his stump speeches, adviser Kevin Madden dismissed the notion that it represented a strategic shift, and said while the economy is still the primary focus, the candidate will continue to talk about other issues he finds "important."
This attention to the base is a flashback to the politics of the last decade, in which George W. Bush won a narrow re-election with the help of conservative voters. But some Democrats have recently begun to speak in similar terms: Democratic Governors Association Chairman Martin O'Malley told BuzzFeed last week that Democrats had abandoned the search for "the magic argument for the three percent that are undecided" and begun to "just tell the base why you're doing what you're doing and why you're better than the other guy."
Continue Reading Here: Romney's New Strategy Turns Right
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