Mitt Watch

The Times of London:

Although McCain remains the clear favourite to win the 2008 nomination, the search is on for a Republican who can unite the anti-McCain wing of the conservative movement.

Romney, whose Massachusetts state is usually a bastion of East Coast liberalism, is considered to be the coming man. At the party he beamed at John Fund, a staunchly right-wing writer for The Wall Street Journal, who had just written about how Romney was “wowing” social conservatives.

The clean-cut governor spent last weekend at the Family Research Council summit in Washington, the spiritual home of Christian “values voters” who provided the bedrock vote for Bush in 2004. Romney is a Mormon, which was once thought to be an insuperable barrier to winning evangelical support. “Everyone I talked to said they didn’t have a problem with it,” one attendee said.

Romney also benefits from chiselled good looks, delegates noted. “Many people say he certainly looks like a president — a sort of cross between Ronald Reagan and John F Kennedy,” swooned Genevieve Wood, founder of the conservative Center for a Just Society.

I don't buy all this hype about McCain. He's alienated too many conservatives with his poor judgment and self-righteous cockiness. Romney is his is own best weapon. He just flat out impresses people, and he can attract Democrat votes, even in Massachusetts.