During the Republican presidential primaries, an aide to Mitt Romney said that the candidate's then extreme right-wing positions would not be a problem.
For the general election, when it would be advantageous for the candidate to move to the center to attract moderate voters, top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said: "You hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch a Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again," erasing old positions and creating a new and improved moderate candidate.
No way, I said. People will remember the boastful, "severely conservative" Mitt. They won't fall for it; people are not that stupid.
I stand corrected.
Susan Christensen
Salt Lake City