Reporting tonight from Chicago:
Cue the broken record. Voters went to the polls Tuesday evening and once again rated electability as the number one factor in deciding whom they were going to vote for. Chalk up another Mitt Romney victory.
Let me make this very simple: Until Rick Santorum figures out how to beat Romney on the electability question, the broken record will never stop. The truth is the train has left the station on that question. Santorum’s only chance is to win Pennsylvania (convincingly would be nice if you’re a Santorum fan) and then reel off a few big wins in May in places like Texas, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
But winning the nomination? I have better odds of winning The Masters this weekend.
Mitt Romney has clearly pivoted to the General Election. In his Wisconsin victory speech he spoke about President Obama’s “government-centered society.” Get ready to hear that line a few times.
Notice how he didn’t say Obama’s “socialist society.” Romney’s just isn’t going to go there. That’s not his style and while the base may not like it, that softer touch may play well with Independents in the General Election.
I also noticed tonight that Romney only lost evangelicals in Wisconsin by 3 percent (41 percent for Santorum-38 percent for Romney) and he actually won the Tea Party vote over Santorum. That tells me that even those who were skeptical of him are starting to realize that they might as well go with the frontrunner.
Everybody likes to back a winner and Mitt Romney is looking more and more like that everyday.
Side note: A big couple last days for The Brody File. We’ve interviewed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker one-on-one at his executive residence. The clips will be moving Wednesday on that.
We also sat down with Rep. Paul Ryan. The clips will be moving soon on that. Plus, today in Chicago we went inside Obama headquarters with our Brody File cameras. More on that soon as well.