A Prediction And A Link

1. Romney will win by a landslide – in the demographic America of 1980. I don’t know what happens in the country we’re actually living in. My guess is a narrow Obama win but I wouldn’t bet my own money on it.

2. Ross Douthat wrote a terrific (and fair!) appreciation of Romney. I’ll have my own favorable thoughts on Romney up later in the week. I’ll give you a taste: Romney and Santorum were the only Republican presidential candidates who treated the primary voters with respect. Yeah, you read that right. I don’t take back any of my earlier criticisms of Romney. If Romney loses (under fairly favorable circumstances for a challenger), his own weaknesses will have had something to do with it. But even more important will be the demographic and messaging weaknesses of the Republican Party and the right-of-center generally. Romney didn’t cause any of those weaknesses and it would be asking too much to expect him to fix them all by himself.