David Axelrod Surprised by Romney Campaign’s Missed Opportunities

[DonViejo]

Nov 27, 2012 4:45 AM EST

Obama’s top election strategist tells a Chicago audience he was surprised Mitt Romney’s team did not attack Obama more, stuck so narrowly with their base—and chose Paul Ryan for VP.

President Obama’s top reelection strategist conceded surprise Monday that Republican super PACS didn’t attack Obama far earlier, Mitt Romney didn’t invest much more in ground operations, and that the Republican nominee played narrowly to the party base in picking Rep. Paul Ryan as a running mate.

Offering a lengthy dissection of the campaign, David Axelrod told a Chicago audience that he was “a bit surprised that super PACS, which spent an unbelievable amount of money,” didn’t hit television and radio with anti-Obama ads until May.

“Our air defenses weren’t ready,” he said, alluding to his side’s early lack of resources. “They gave us a pass, for whatever reason.”

At the same time, he was surprised that a plausible, distinctly positive image of Romney as successful businessman was not central to Romney’s media strategy until late fall. In part he ascribed that to Romney’s “Faustian bargain” to get the Republican nomination and tacking far to the right while also unleashing a barrage of mostly negative ads against GOP primary rivals.

-snip-

more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/27/david-axelrod-surprised-by-romney-campaign-s-missed-opportunities.html

[sadbear]

1. It was all arrogance.

They thought they didn't even have to try hard to win. They misread the climate (and their own candidate) and lost.

Yep, it's their own damn fault.

[Festivito]

2. Repubs gave up on this election before they even picked Dole, er, Mitt.

Now, they just want it to look as though they tried.

[Jennicut]

3. Picking Ryan was a mistake for Mittens.

But it did damage to Ryan's reputation as "Mr. ultra smart and serious". And his ideas were rejected by voters. So, Mitt did a good thing for all of us by picking him.
Also, the lack of resources on ground operations? Total stupidity. Obama's team was like a well oiled machine and Mitt's was clueless.

[Lex]

11. Massive wrong pick

Why play to the base with the VP pick anyway? It just seemed like a clearly dumb move.

[NewJeffCT]

4. I think they were scared

The figured if Romney bought up the "good" aspects of his business career, Obama's team would come back with things like "Stage" and other ads attacking his business background, which is how Romney lost to Ted Kennedy.

They also figured that anti-Obama anger was far greater than it really was, because they were locked inside their RW news bubble that had some serious disconnects from reality.

[yellowcanine]

5. Romney messed up early by not standing up to Perry, Caine, Gingrich, et al.

By trying to be more right wing than they were, he lost the moral high ground and made it impossible to credibly run as a moderate in the general election.

[Cha]

9. That whole "Severely Conservative" thing was pure gold.. for

the side of Democracy! It seemed like he was digging his political grave at the time and it turns out...

[Third Doctor]

6. I don't know

If Romney had come off as too moderate he would not have gotten the nomination. And if he did he would have come out of it even more beated up than he did. I think the problem is the batshit crazt party the GOP has devolved into.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Yes, I would like the Super Pacs to start attacking before May too.

It would help use up their funding faster. But that tactic would work on someone that is not a good candidate. Even then IMO they wouldn't need that much. So probably, they could had started 4 years ago taking Obama down and it still wouldn't work. Wait, didn't they do that from the moment those words came out of Senator McConnell's turtle lips that their goal was to make Obama a one term President?

[struggle4progress]

8. I thought Paul Ryan brought some much-needed gravitas to the GOP ticket

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[Cha]

10. The ayn randers were

enraptured.