Words.
"Mitt Romney is the most improbable of presidential candidates: a weak juggernaut. He is poised to sweep every primary contest — a first for a non-incumbent. And yet, in Republican ranks there's an abiding sense that he should be beatable — and beaten.
It's not that Romney doesn't have fans. His events here in New Hampshire are packed to the rafters and feel like general election rallies. He's surging in polls in South Carolina and Florida.
And yet the non-Mitt mood just won't go away. Indeed, it's intensifying.
... His authentic inauthenticity problem isn't going away. And it's sapping enthusiasm from the rank and file. The turnout in Iowa was disastrously low, barely higher than the turnout in 2008 — and if Ron Paul hadn't brought thousands of non-Republicans to the caucus sites, it would have been decidedly lower than in 2008. That's an ominous sign given how much enthusiasm there should be for making Obama a one-term president. It's almost as if Romney's banality is infectious.
...The most persuasive case for Romney has always been that if he's the nominee, the election will be a referendum on Obama. But that calculation always assumed that rank-and-file Republicans would vote for their nominee in huge numbers no matter what. That may well still be the case, but it feels less guaranteed every day..."
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Romney's authenticity problem
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