GOP hopefuls fail to connect on plight of jobless

Could hurt nominee with independents

In Nevada, where GOP caucuses will be held Saturday, the 12.6% unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. But the furious scramble that is thegop nominating contest has all but eclipsed the economic distress — 13 million unemployed — that was supposed to be the key issue of the 2012 election.

The two leading candidates do sometimes talk about the out- of- work Americans using unemployment benefits to stay afloat— but not particularly kindly. Newt Gingrich questions the work ethic of people collecting unemployment insurance. Mitt Romney says he wants to get people to save for their own unemployment themselves. Both oppose the extension of unemployment benefits now under consideration in Congress.

It’s a message tailored to the committed Republicans who turn out for primaries, but it could have consequences in the fall, when the GOP nominee will have to appeal to independent voters less steeped in the conservative philosophy of limited government.

“In the primaries, they’re preaching to a choir. And the choir doesn’t want to hear about government intervention to do something about unemployment,” said George Edwards, a political scientist at Texas A& M University.

Former House speaker Gingrich wants to make unemployment benefits contingent on a job training program. “It is fundamentally wrong to give people money for 99 weeks for doing nothing,” he said.

Romney, who wants to overhaul the system by having workers create and fund their own unemployment accounts, dropped a clunker Wednesday when he said that thanks to social safety net programs, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.” He continued, “I’m concerned about the heart of America, the 95% of Americans who are right now struggling.”

Frequently awkward about money issues, Romney also told a group of unemployed Floridians in June that he, too, is unemployed. ( The former Masschusetts governor is living on his enormous investment income while he runs for president.)

In Nevada, which leads the nation in foreclosed homes, he said last fall the foreclosure process should continue until it “hits bottom.”

Among Republicans hoping to win the state in November, “that went over like the proverbial lead balloon,” said Eric Herzik, a political scientist at the University of Nevada- Reno.

It’s closer to “Message: I care” — George H. W. Bush’s 1992 clanger — than Bill Clinton’s possibly over- thetop “I feel your pain.”

“It’s an absolute tone deafness,” said Judy Conti of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for the unemployed. “When politicians speak and campaign with a clear unawareness of what it’s like out there these days and how hard it is for so many people, they do so at their own peril.”

To be sure, Gingrich has expressed sympathy for those out of work. The day after his win in South Carolina, Gingrich said on NBC that voters’ message was “real pain. . . . People really are hurting.”

Romney has mentioned more than once that the plight of the unemployed “breaks your heart” and when an outofwork woman traveled to South Carolina to shake his hand, he gave her cash from his wallet.

Still, to connect to voters on the economy, “I think they have work to do,” said veteran Nevada GOP strategist Sig Rogich. For the past few weeks candidates have spent so much time attacking each other, “I think they’re off message as it relates to that,” he said.

“None of the candidates have done an adequate job on either unemployment or foreclosures, and it is a very large missed opportunity,” said Nevada Republican strategist Pete Ernaut.

Worse, Ernaut says, the GOP candidates have allowed President Obama to seize the initiative.

By Ethan Miller, Getty Images Has expressed sympathy: Candidate Newt Gingrich addresses a rally Thursday in Las Vegas. After his S. C. win, he acknowledged, “People really are hurting.”