Where's Paulie?

Out of sight, out of mind...they hope.

It's interesting to note what the campaigns are doing with their candidates.

Obama is campaigning in the "swing" states. All of them. Including a whirlwind swing through four of them in the last day or so. Romney is focusing on Ohio, a state he desperately needs but where he is (so far) trailing significantly. Vice President Biden has also been seen a lot in Ohio; he's been there for most of this week.

But what's really interesting is what the Romney campaign has been doing with Paul Ryan. (That is, not much.) With the election less than two weeks away, at a time when the Romney campaign really needs "all hands at the pumps," Ryan is attending fund raising events in Georgia, Texas, South Carolina and Alabama.

This is weird on a couple of levels.

First, there's the whole idea of the Romney campaign doing fund raising; the timing is odd, certainly, but the Romney campaign is better funded than any Presidential campaign in history. If there's one thing that the Romney campaign doesn't need more of, it's money.

Second, there's the locations involved. Think about it: Georgia, Texas, South Carolina and Alabama. Does anyone think there's a chance that Romney won't win all of them? Easily? This is the South, and the Deep South at that; red states all. (Bad Joke Alert! Question: Why is Alabama like a zebra in a blender? Answer: It's black and white and red all over. Well, I said it was bad...)

One bit of speculation I've run across says that while the Romney campaign is doing well financially, the RNC might neet cash for House and Senate races. I'm nor sure I can buy that; the RNC isn't strapped for cash by any means, and never seems to be pressed for rich donors.

Another idea I've heard is that the Romney campaign is afraid that Ryan will do something dumb, or perhaps "go rogue" a la Sarah Palin. This is a more reasonable hypothesis, but it still doesn't quite hold water. After all, in the Vice Presidential debate Ryan held his own against Joe Biden, and managed to look better in his one debate than Romney did in all three of his (including his one undisputed victory, which resulted as much from Obama looking bad as from Romney looking good).

A better explanation is the ongoing series of Republican gaffs regarding rape, as well as women's rights in general. This makes more sense. Lately we've had Republicans from Senatorial candidates Todd Akin (he of the notorious "legitimate rape" comment) and Richard Mourdock (famous for his hard right comments on rape, pregnancy and abortion) saying dumb things in public. It could be that the Romney campaign is afraid that, holding much the same views as these two Senate wannabes, Ryan may be called to account for these views if he risks being anywhere he might get hard questions on the matter. Romney doesn't need to further alienate women; he's badly losing that demographic.

Whatever the reason, it doesn't make much sense (to me, anyway) for the Romney campaign, in a dead heat for the popular vote but still well behind in the electoral college, to (and it's football metaphores tonight) bench its star halfback so late in the fourth quarter, with the score close and a chance, not a great chance but still a real chance, of victory.

I can only think that they're afraid he'll fumble the ball. If that's the case, maybe Mitt Romney isn't the quarterback they need right now.

The Blues Viking

The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.