FreedomWorks trabajará contra Romney

Brendan Steinhauser, uno de los portavoces de la organización encargada de la promoción y logística de las movilizaciones del Tea Party, ha explicado cuál será la estrategia.

Resumiendo: debilitar a Romney desde el principio sin asociarse con ningún otro candidato, dejando que los primeros cuatro estados determinen quién es la alternativa más viable, y a partir de entonces movilizar a las bases en diferentes estados para que voten a esa alternativa.

A top goal of the nation’s most influential national Tea Party group is to stop Mitt Romney from winning the Republican nomination for president.

Interviews with top officials at FreedomWorks, a Washington-based organizing hub for Tea Party activists around the country, revealed that much of their thinking about the 2012 election revolves around derailing the former Massachusetts governor.

(...) Brendan Steinhauser, who travels around the country meeting with activists as FreedomWorks’ top liaison to the grassroots, said most people he talks to are “definitely trying to stop Romney.”

“I don’t think I’ve met any groups or any local activists that like him or want him to be president,” Steinhauser said. “They just don’t believe he’s authentic. That’s the biggest problem in addition to the health care thing.”

(...) But Steinhauser said there is a growing concern that the Tea Party movement is going to splinter its vote because there is no clear alternative to Romney at the moment. Without such an option, grassroots conservatives may scatter among GOP candidates such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and others. Such a scenario would likely help Romney.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is emerging as Romney's clearest rival, though many questions remain about his ability to unite the Republican base. Former Utah Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman could become a Romney alternative for some voters, but he is likely to be too moderate for most Tea Partiers.

So FreedomWorks plans to bring its influence to bear during the primary. They'll be violating former President Ronald Reagan's so-called Eleventh Commandment -- that Republicans should not attack other Republicans -- but Steinhauser said these are unusual circumstances.

“You can’t divide the vote in the primary and end up with, you know, who? Newt Gingrich? Mitt Romney? Somebody’s got to beat those guys,” Steinhauser said. “I think it’s important that we really point out the flawed candidates and brand them as such and point out who are the people we consider unacceptable.”

(...) While FreedomWorks hopes to raise roughly $20 million for the 2012 election cycle, the group's focus will not be on fundraising or TV campaign ads. They will concentrate instead on nudging the grassroots toward coalescing behind whoever ends up being the most electable alternative to Romney. They see their role as being crucial after the GOP candidates have gone through the first three or four primary states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

“When you come out of those early primary states, the only thing that’s going to be uniting the surviving candidates is they’re all going to be broke. They’re not going to have the money to go saturate Florida and Ohio on television and Super Tuesday states,” said Brandon.

“What we’re going to be ready to do, is when these candidates -– let’s say it’s Romney versus one of the governors, or there’s four candidates –- at that point that’s when we probably really start focusing on getting behind one person,” he said. “And then these networks will help propel that person through those states.”

FreedomWorks is not currently leaning in any one candidate’s direction, though Pawlenty’s was mentioned as having the best shot to beat Romney and win the general election. Though Bachmann is formidable in terms of her appeal to the conservative base, the group does not appear to view her as a particularly strong opponent for Obama. (...)