E.J. Dionne explains how the primary process has weakened, not strengthened Mitt Romney in his column, How Romney Won, And Lost:”
Mitt Romney can argue that winning ugly is still winning, especially in a contest he could not afford to lose. But Romney’s decisive victory in Florida came at a price. He aggravated Newt Gingrich’s hostility to him, with all the trouble that could entail, and left behind a dispirited Republican electorate in a state the GOP needs to win this fall.
At least until now, this primary process has weakened rather than strengthened Romney. It has sowed doubts that he has any understanding of how average people live, and opened up a slew of questions about his personal wealth and the taxes he pays.
These queries will come back again and again, and some will be hard for him to answer, notably whether he will disclose as much about his taxes to the voters in his 2012 quest for the presidency as he turned over to John McCain’s vetters in 2008, when Romney was merely pursuing the vice presidency.
