Romney’s chances fade fast

THE last few weeks have been ugly for Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

A flat Republican convention, a fumbled response to unrest in the Middle East, reports of discord within his campaign, and a secretly taped video of him deriding 47% of US voters have left his team reeling. There’s more. Democratic President Barack Obama has opened a slight lead over Romney in national polls, and new surveys indicate Obama has a significant edge where it matters most: in Ohio, Virginia and Florida, the most coveted of nine politically divided “swing” states that are crucial to cobbling together the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

So, seven weeks before the election, is it already over for Mitt Romney?

Not yet. Despite the serial gaffes and the many questions about his campaign, Romney remains within striking range of the president.

The former Massachusetts governor still has time to change the trajectory of the race – even though he has shown no ability to do so for the past several months, as he has cast Obama as a failure in overseeing a struggling economy.

There are three presidential debates in October, and Romney – who during the past month lightened his campaign schedule in favour of debate practices – is clearly pointing toward the showdowns as a chance to show Americans he is a better bet.

Obama remains vulnerable thanks to a stubbornly high 8.1% unemployment rate, tepid economic growth and big majorities of voters who believe the United States is on the wrong track.

“Romney just came out of one of the worst months in presidential politics in recent memory, and he’s hanging right in there,” Republican strategist Rich Galen said.

“If I was one of Obama’s guys in Chicago, I’d be thinking: ‘ What does it take to get rid of this guy?’”

But Romney’s challenges are huge. “His likability is still not great. People don’t see him as credible, he’s not seen as empathetic,” Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Centre said. — Reuters