Dick Morris

This week, Mitt Romney has turned the tables on the president and now is spending more on television advertising in the swing states. 

I was surprised when Frank Luntz’s focus group showed that the best line of Wednesday evening’s debate by either candidate was Gov. Romney’s rendition of how he worked with Democrats in Massachusetts and will do so as president. But it makes a great deal of sense that this line would resonate.

While we professionals are trying to win the war of Dems vs. Reps, blue vs. red, the voters just want the war to end and the parties to come to an agreement, guided by the verdict they will deliver on Election Day. Ending this toxic division has been a key national goal of American voters ever since the Clinton impeachment, the government shutdown and the debt-limit fight. Indeed, the core of Clinton’s current popularity is that he did bridge the gap and pass bipartisan legislation to balance the budget and reform welfare.

Obama’s appeal was largely based on his promise to heal these divisions. But it is self-evident that they have gotten worse during his term. Any promise now to heal the breach would be seen as fraudulent.

But Romney’s record in Massachusetts offers some hope that he might succeed where Obama has failed.

Each party convention usually produces a bounce of 6 to 10 points, though they often cancel each other out. 

If Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich split the remaining primaries and caucuses – even if Romney wins most of them – we will not have a nominee until the summer and may not have one until the convention in late August.

In that case, kiss our chances of beating Obama good-bye!

What would the race for president look like if Rick Santorum won the Republican nomination?

A seesaw campaign?

The impostor who wallowed in negative ads, attacked capitalism at Bain Capital and hemmed and hawed when asked about his role at Freddie Mac is gone. The real Newt Gingrich has returned!

Two facts emerge from the New Hampshire primary with ominous implications for the GOP in 2012:

Eight votes don’t mean much, but even had Mitt Romney lost out to Rick Santorum in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, he would still have emerged as the big winner last night. He didn’t lock up the nomination, but he acquired a key strategic advantage.

To beat Romney, you’ve got to get him one on one and win all the non-Romney votes out there. (They are not really anti-Romney, but they sure would prefer someone who had never been pro-choice and was not a Mormon.) Had Santorum not surged in Iowa, Newt Gingrich would now have Mitt one on one and could have done some serious damage.

But now, Santorum and Gingrich are about to split the same vote.