Internal Strife Becomes an External Problem for Romney

As the primaries draw near, presidential hopefuls fight their opponents for top billing. However, fights between candidates are not the only conflicts in the race. Politico has the story about some internal campaign troubles for Mitt Romney.

Politico’s article cites ad campaign manager, original campaign media adviser Alex Castellanos, and recent consultant hires Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer as being at odds about the correct tactic to bring Romney to the front of the Republican field.

From Politico:

Accounts differ over the precise nature of their differences and how much is a matter of personality and ego and how much is authentic disagreement over campaign strategy.

The looming question is how and why would this information be “leaked” after so many months of relatively tight campaigning by Romney. The possibilities are many and the answers are few. Let’s play the fun game of “speculation.” (Available in stores now!)

My first instinct is that Romney’s people are floating the giant backlash bubble. Attacking the front runner of the Republican field inhibits riding the coattails if the fight turns into a bloodbath and you end up the loser. The campaign is gaging the negative/positive feedback it receives from voters, the GOP, and other nominees to calculate the viability of an attack.

The game is risky but the payoff could be a presidential nomination.