Romney now pandering to the Teabaggers

The Atlantic:

As Romney makes his pitch, he's probably saying the right things, cleverly seeking an entry point in the movement's self-proclaimed broad-tentedness. What's up for debate, as some activists reject his entreaties out of hand, is whether or not Romney has the bona fides on that one, core issue.

Romney isn't doing as badly among tea partiers as one might expect. In a 2012 field stacked with tea-party options, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (the perceived cause of Romney's tea-party wooing) is the overwhelming favorite of self-identified tea partiers: He collected 35 percent of the tea-party vote in a Gallup poll last week. But surprisingly Romney ranked second with 17 percent, ahead of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of the movement's seeming avatars, who collected 14 percent.

If tea partiers are as open minded as Romney says they are, and wants them to be, he may just hold onto that 17 percent without ceding it to Perry, Bachmann or Herman Cain. If not, things probably won't go so well for him as he takes to the tea-party stage.