Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Pressure on Romney over veep choice amidst a failing campaign

NY Times on the veepstakes:

The extended summertime silence of Mr. Romney, the Republican candidate, on his choice of a running mate has provided a new opening for social and economic conservatives to lobby for a die-hard member of their movement to join the Republican ticket.

If Romney folds and picks Paul Ryan, he would have to be considered gutless as well as heartless. Chris Christie is being pushed, too ("he's a fighter!" "he gives Romney backbone!"). Is it possible that Romney actually has no organs of his own? Well, you know what? Everyone has something Romney doesn't, because Romney doesn't have a lot to offer. But, remember, any pick other than Portman or Pawlenty betrays panic.

Nate Cohn:

Barack Obama has the advantage with 90 days to go until November 6, and the Romney campaign mostly has itself to blame. Four years after Obama's decisive victory in 2008, a poor economy, dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, and mediocre approval ratings have conspired to endanger the president's reelection chances. But a close race, which is what the polls show, is not the same as a dead heat. Romney is an imperfect candidate who has been poorly served by a strategy that has failed to contest Obama's predictable attacks, leaving him poorly positioned heading into the conventions.

Romney trails because he sucks as a candidate. But fear not, Mitt. The Bain ads are not working. The political media told me so.

If Romney pledged to repeal RomneyCare too would conservatives pretend to like him more?
' @LOLGOP via TweetDeck CNN:

Mitt Romney's unfavorable rating is up, most Americans think the Republican presidential challenger favors the rich, and it appears the number of people who believe that the economy will not get better if Romney is elected has edged up slightly, according to a new national poll.

But a CNN/ORC International survey released Thursday also indicates that Romney's supporters are increasingly getting behind the presumptive GOP nominee.

It all adds up to a seven point advantage for President Barack Obama over the former Massachusetts governor, with 52% of registered voters questioned in the survey saying that they'd vote to re-elect the president and 45% backing Romney.

Pew +10, Ipsos +7, and now CNN +7 and Fox (et tu, Fox?) +9? I guess Romney's losing.

The Fix:

The simple reality is that the vice presidential pick ' viewed through the lens of recent history ' has almost no broad influence on the fate of the ticket and, to the extent the VP choice has mattered, it's been in a negative way.

I guess after Romney's VP pick, he'll still be losing.

CNN:

Romney's failure to surpass Barack Obama this summer stems in no small part from his reluctance to make any bold moves on policy, and this reluctance is a direct product of the beating he's taken from conservative critics for much of the last year.

If you want to sell a "What Romney should do" story, now's a great time. Here's Mark McKinnon, for example. And here's Nate Cohn.

Elspeth Reeve:

Five Stages of Conservative Romneycare Grief

Conservatives want Romney to lead the way in convincing the rest of America that President Obama is genuinely a malevolent force. They want Obamacare to be cited as Exhibit A of that evil plot. But Romney can't do that, because he established Romneycare in Massachusetts. But conservatives are not yet ready to accept that their candidate is not a torch-bearer for their principles. And so, from time to time they tend to explode. But not all of these explosions are the same. We've noticed that they tend to fall along the five stages of grief in realizing they're stuck with the presidential candidate they'd got.

Charles Blow:

Politifact said that what voters got from the Romney campaign 'is a falsehood.' In other words, a lie.

What could push a man to hang his hat on so sharp a nail? Fear, that's what.

As we move into the conventions, the Republican candidate is still down in the polls ' two recent surveys have deplorable favorability numbers for Romney. At this point, according to my colleague Nate Silver's blog, FiveThirtyEight, Obama is favored to win in November.

Romney has to find a line of attack that works because there is a creeping feeling beginning to overtake part of the electorate that his candidacy is in trouble. The problem is that these sorts of desperate, baseless attacks only amplify the sense of panic.

Hey, don't be depressed, or angry. Just turn to Jennifer Rubin for some light-hearted fun. She always thinks Romney is winning, even when he's losing.

Where are the voices who chide how dysfunctional government has become? Is Evan Bayh on vacation? Mr. Comity himself, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who found his primary opponent to embody all that's wrong in politics, apparently has nothing to say about Obama, Burton and Reid. I long to hear from John Avlon, Steven Beschloss, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and the rest of the No Labelers about the damage done to our country by diving into the political mud with such abandon. Where are the 'wise' men and women who get recycled for every commission to come along? The sainted Colin Powell is mute. And really, do Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann have no views on all this? (Oh, yes, it's all the Republicans' fault.)

Oops. I guess Romney really is losing.