ROMNEY PLOTS HIS STRATEGY – AT 8:59 A.M. ET:  Well, he'd better, because Rick Perry is having him for lunch, according to all the recent polls.  Romney apparently has a strategy to fight back.  From The Washington Post:

Romney has been criticized for refusing to engage Perry, but his campaign advisers see no need to do so now. They point out that the Democratic National Committee is going after Perry, hundreds of reporters hoping to make names for themselves are scouring his life and record, and other candidates that Perry has passed in the polls are determined to take him down. Why should Romney attack Perry directly when the Democrats, the liberal media and Michele Bachmann will do it for him? Romney’s strategists note that Perry will have to survive five debates in six weeks — ample opportunity for Bachmann to “rip his eyes out” (as she did to Tim Pawlenty) or for Perry to blow himself up.

If Perry fails to implode and continues to surge in the polls, Romney eventually will have to go on the attack — an assault his advisers say will commence “at a time of our choosing.” Romney strategists are quick to note that in his book, “Fed Up!,” Perry writes that “By any measure, Social Security is a failure” and calls the program “something we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now” that was created “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government.”

Look at what happened to Paul Ryan when he proposed a plan to save Medicare, they say. Romney’s campaign will argue that Perry is against the very idea of Social Security and Medicare, and that he will use Perry’s book to scare seniors in early-primary states with large retiree populations, such as Florida and South Carolina.

And...

The Romney campaign also plans to use immigration to drive a wedge between Perry and his conservative base, by highlighting Perry’s opposition to a border fence and legislation he signed in 2001 allowing the children of illegal immigrants to attend Texas colleges and universities at in-state tuition....Romney strategists believe the immigration issue will be devastating for Perry with Tea Party Republicans across the country — and especially in important primary states like Arizona.

And...

The Romney campaign will argue that Perry repels independents and can’t win in key swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — while Romney can.

COMMENT:  As a political strategy, that isn't bad at all.  If I were running against Perry, that's pretty much what I'd do.  The problem, of course, is one of time.  Perry, who excites elements of the GOP base, may be so far ahead of Romney by the time Romney fights back that the race will essentially be over. 

The Romney people point out, correctly, that Perry is a very flawed candidate, easy to run against in a general election.  "Unelectable" will be the key word, and used often.  But parties regularly choose unelectable candidates when no one is strong enough to challenge them for the nomination.  The question is whether Romney, basically everyone's second choice for prom date, has that strength, and whether, indeed, he can convince people that a man like Perry, who's never lost an election, is unelectable.

August 30, 2011