Does Mitt Romney Have A Soul?

A couple of Politico writers, Mike Allen and van Thomas, have put out a gossipy e-book (kind of an extended Politico column) called The Right Fights Back which purports to offer an inside look at the fatally flawed Republican candidates. They all come off looking horrible but Romney sure doesn't look like that guy anyone would like to have a beer and make chit-chat with.

Apparently the front-runner and former governor of Massachusetts is so obsessed with fitness that he runs three miles a day when on his travels, including-- if there are no other options-- jogging around whatever hotel he is staying in. He also is known to pull the cheese off pizza slices and remove the skin from KFC chicken. More critically, the book quotes Perry aide David Carney as saying Romney has a temper problem.

"Unbelievably temperamental … if he thinks that it's 3 in the afternoon, it's 3 in the afternoon, no matter what time it is," Carney says in the book.

The picture painted of the drugged up, Koched-up Rick Perry, pretty unflattering as well-- it's unavoidable that the man is unqualified to hold any public office, even in Texas-- is oddly a portrait centered on his loathing of Bishop Romney:

The book paints a largely unflattering portrait of the Texas governor, hinting strongly at a deep personal dislike of Romney coupled with a reluctance to actually work the demanding hours that a campaign needs. It quotes one former Perry advisor as saying: "Just spending lots of time with him and travelling with him and not seeing a real burning desire that I've seen with every other candidate I ever worked with."

Another aide is quoted as saying that a desire to stop Romney was one of Perry's main motivators in running. "He basically he told me: 'Hell, I'm not going to concede this thing to Mitt,'" the aide says.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Romney is getting nervous about Newt Gingrich's precipitous rise in the polls as the Anyone-But-Mitt forces coalesce around the GOP lobbyist and former disgraced House Speaker, who the Romney camp is claiming is at least as much of a flip flopper as Romney himself. Romney went on the attack, a sign of desperation, calling Gingrich a DC Insider and "lifelong politician." Although Romney, who has a home in New Hampshire, is still ahead in that state, he's fallen behind in the three other early decision states, Iowa, where he's been afraid to face social conservatives and compete with the rest of the field, South Carolina and Florida.

Romney, in spite of his early career in business, is vulnerable to counter-attack on the 'lifelong politician' charge, having unsuccessfully run for the Senate in 1994, been governor of Massachusetts 2002-2006 and been running for president ever since.

Normally disciplined and composed, Romney also showed signs of tetchiness during the interview, appearing to be exasperated by questions about why, though favourite, he has so far failed to establish himself as front-runner and why he has shown inconsistency on issues such as abortion.

He was also testy with reporters who questioned why he was not making himself more available for press conferences.

Jon Huntsman has turned that Fox interview into an ad that s absolutely devastating to Romney, although none of his GOP opponents have had the temerity to develop the main line of what is sure to be the Democratic Party attack-- that he has been a career-long serial job destroyer.