I hate to repeat myself, but....
I like Mitt Romney and am as close to sold on him as I am anybody at this point. He seems to be a little more toward the Libertarian side of the Republican party, which is a big plus for me. Lower taxes, his policy fighting terrorism, and most other views are pretty standard stuff. The first thing I noticed about him is his stance on federal involvement in public education. He wants little or none and we desperately need to work toward this to save what is left of public education.
There are some who want to compare him to John Kerry as a flip flopper. As far as I have seen there are only two issues Romney has changed much on over the years, those being abortion and same sex marriage. First off, there is a huge difference between changing a stance or two over the years and changing your stance back and forth over the course of 24 hours, all depending on who you are talking to at the time. Kerry, and this is the last I'll speak of him, faced in four different directions at the same time. When it comes to Romney, while it does at least raise an eyebrow that he has changed his stance on these two issues, I can give him the benefit of the doubt. His change on abortion is really not that far removed from my own stance, though it is notable that I didn't change my stance right before I ran for president.
When it comes to same sex marriage, it should be pointed out that the position of a governor and the position of the president are, and should be, two different jobs. Same sex marriage is a state issue and the federal government does not have an official position, nor do they have one on any kind of marriage. It should be the same with abortion, but it's not and we have to deal with things the way they are, not the way it should be. That noted: Did Romney change his position to be more appealing to Conservatives? Possibly. If so, it's nothing unusual and hardly the most drastic change someone has made to appeal to the core of a party.
While window dressing isn't something I'm that interested in, I do recognize it can affect decisions some people make while choosing how to vote, and Romney has a lot working against him. First, his name is Mitt Romney. That's not exactly a common name, and a Mitt trying to get a job that has been filled by two Georges, a Bill, a Ron, and a Jimmy over the last 30 years can work against him, though no more than an Barack I suppose. He is Mormon, which a lot of people curl a lip toward, though many religious leaders have come out in support of Romney. He is a Republican from Massachusetts, which is just a bit on the odd side on a national level. Finally, though is sounds odd even to me, he may look too perfect for the position. If you were to package a Running for President game, Romney's image would be on the cover. As I said, it sounds odd, but that may actually be a turn off to some.
If I were voting right now, Mitt Romney would have my vote. I do leave my self a little room to change my mind, call me a flip flopper if you want. Mike Huckabee caught my attention long enough to get a closer look, Ron Paul has me debating myself on certain things, and if Duncan Hunter stood a snowballs chance of getting the nomination I might have a real decision to make. You never know what will happen over the course of a year, but for the moment it looks like Romney is the guy.
