Here's what I think Romney does soon after he wins the nomination...

[Old and In the Way]

He'll make a blanket statement/mea culps to the GE voter. "Sorry about all of the lies and distortions, but I had to say that to win the republican nomination. Believe what I tell you from here on out. Trust me."

He can't win with his nomination campaign...so I think that goes in the dump and he'll try to inoculate himself from all of the soundbites that Democrats are collecting. His response to these will be, "I've already addressed that."

This guys has no core principles...except getting elected POTUS for his trophy cabinet.

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. "You knew what I was when you voted for me"

"What makes you think I'd change?"

[Historic NY]

2. Even he doesn't know the positions he took 4 hrs ago from those 4 hrs later.

[NYC Liberal]

3. That will cause him to lose even harder, imo.

He can say "I've already addressed that" once or twice, but if he starts saying it to every single criticism (and there are many), it will kill him.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Well, as Mitt might say...

'You have a better idea?" He's either going to have to refute every one of these statements made in the last year (since 1994, actually) which means 2 straight months of dancing and spinning...or he's going to try the blanket disavowal gambit and hope he can pivot and attack PBO for the remaining 3 months of the campaign without playing defense. Really not sure either option is very good, but the man has no principles, so I could see him simply trying to wipe his prior "on the record" statements clean.

[NYC Liberal]

6. Oh I agree. Better for us - either way he goes, it won't be good for him!

[Chan790]

5. I think he's going to try to run his GE campaign on his MA record.

Something like "I may sound like a conservative but I've governed as a moderate."

[morningfog]

11. Exactly. He will muddy the water and divert from everything he has said during the primary,

pointing back to his moderate-liberal positions. When you've taken every side of every issue you're worthless.

[musicblind]

7. I don't see how it works. It is more than just "changing your mind" on an issue.

Either he was lying then or he is lying now.

That is how the American people will see it.

I can't imagine they would see it any other way. They'd have to be blind.

[briv1016]

8. That could work if Obama takes a vow of silence

Otherwise, if he said something like that at the debates he would lose worse then Gingrich.

[Myrina]

9. He's like Evan Bayh and W ...

... getting elected to higher and higher office because "it's the family business" ... they basically don't know how to do anything useful with themselves other than follow in daddy's footsteps.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. Maybe a saavier politician could "thread the needle" between the primary & general electorates

but I don't think Romney is that person. Aside from his liabilities in general, whichever way he tries to position himself, he is virtually guaranteed to upset somebody IMHO causing him to lose the GE. George W. Bush seemed able to do it back in 2000 and 2004 though the GOP hadn't quite been fully taken over yet by the radical Tea Party fringe. Romney has been forced to go "severely" outside of what I believe to be his basic political "comfort zone" to even stand a chance in this primary and will likely succeed in spite of his inability to actually convince radical Tea Partiers that he's one of them but he's going to have a hard time positioning himself to keep the Tea Partiers happy and attract enough moderates and independents to win the GE. Just my $0.02.

[Cosmocat]

13. W was gifted in one way

I saw him speak last fall, and he is the same guy.

He never was a bomb thrower. He never had to say the over the top crape that these clowns, including Romney, have had to, in order to get the nomination.

His gift was his ability talk moderately while winking at the hard right. It was an unspoken contract between him and them. He was one of them, they knew it, and he did not have to prove it.

Romney simply is not one of them.

His opponents know that, and tack hard right trying to outflank him, and he has to veer that way enough to win at the margins.

He can temper what he is saying a bit, but he can't tack much more toward the "center" than he is now. It will hurt his core, and it will make him too close to a pretty likeable incumbent.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. That's pretty much how I see it too.

I don't think that Romney is a "severe conservative" nor can he credibly fake one but he has to at least pretend to be one to win (though all of the available evidence suggests that tea partiers aren't really buying it but are more or less resigned to his inevitable candidacy). I would almost not be quite so worried about Romney being POTUS if he were likely to govern as a Scott Brown-esque "moderate" but the modern day Tea Party-controlled GOP won't let him be like that if elected and, as such, Obama is the only rational choice IMHO.

[WI_DEM]

12. No, not likely. He would then alienate every conservative right wing voter in this country

and he would still need them to get out and vote for him to win.

[Arkana]

15. Mitt will attempt to roll back to the center the minute he's all the right wing's got.

The business interests know he'll do whatever they want--it'll just be a matter of assuring the crazies that he'll keep the country in the Dark Ages.

[brooklynite]

16. Not a change that this will happen...

...Mittens will look at the last Republican who played this game (GHWB) who lost his base after caving on taxes and didn't get re-elected.