Mitt Romney "rebounded" a bit over the weekend by (barely) winning the Maine Caucus and getting some love at CPAC (where he declared himself a "severe" conservative, whatever that means). But the narrative of the 2012 presidential campaign has hardly shifted from where it was a week ago — Romney is not that strong a candidate for being the so-called front-runner, but is there anybody who can seriously challenge him?
For conservatives, Romney's support for a universal health care plan in Massachusetts has always been problematic. He's argued that it's a states' rights deal, and for Republicans who support Romney, that's good enough.
For the rest of the GOP electorate, that answer is pretty weak. The question has been why it's taken so long for some of his opponents to hammer him on the issue, though Rick Santorum did so with steadfast intensity at the last debate in Jacksonville last month.
But in an interview less than two years ago, Romney had lots of praise for the Obama health care plan, including the right's bête noir, the individual mandate.
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2012.