Could Romney have stayed more to the center?

Mitt was unlikable zero charisma bad candidate. He tried left right and middle he just didn't have any it factor at all. That goes for republican politicians in general.

He would've lost in the primaries being to moderate

Middle America wants a bible thumping right winger who will burn liberals. The rest of America, know better.

haha yeah. Who said he didn't try the middle? He also tried up, down and sideways. He tried anything he thought people would get suckered into.

I agree, I think Romney is more moderate then what he projected but here's the problem with partied system. He had to go way to the right to get the support and funding of the GOP base, then once nominated any move towards the center is seen as flip-flopping and portrayed as a negative, so damned if you do, damned if you don't.

that is absolutely untrue. Middle America has what can be called conservative values but in the post you are replying to arock was specifically speaking about the primaries. Republican primaries in many areas have been taken over by self described 'Tea Party' activist. As such any republican running has to kiss their asses or they don't get delegates from that district. So what we see is candidates moving to the 'extreme right' in most of their primaries and then having to skip, jump and slide to the middle gradually to have a prayer in the general election. That is why the new Mitt came out in the debates, being an 'extremely conservative' candidate wont fly to the majority of Americans so he moved to the center... about as gracefully as a bull in a china shop.

The biggest problem I had with Mitt was that he was... really he was a truly moderate guy...not as bipartisan as he wanted the country to think he was but he certainly was not a tea party freak. He was so desperate to get the job he sold out any core beliefs he may have had at one time. I mean there is flexible and then there are noodles and Mitt Romney. Had he shown his convictions, stood firm on his values and truly expressed them he would have lost the primaries but if he could have done it immediately after the primaries then he might have won the general election.

primaries are the problem in this case and how could that be fixed? Open primaries that's how

Mitt was whatever people wanted him to be. That is a bad sign. You want someone with convictions like dare I say it... Bush (whose convictions went against the super majority but were still convictions nonetheless). Obama is another one that said what he wanted to accomplish and has done or is working on most.

This

In hindsight he may have won since most others sunk themselves but I still believe he would have lost. The Tea party was a disaster to the Republicans and all candidates vied for their support to win the nomination, but that meant being very right.

Mitt was a moderate a few times, so I guess the short answer is "Yes."

I tend to think now that Romney has just been nothing more than an employee of the GOP and Karl Rove. He will say anything he is told to say and has no personal position on anything. In a year or 2, the 'publicans will hire someone new and try all over again.

My apologies. I was under the impression that real people voted in the Primaries. Not just Tea Party members.

I can only judge on the news I see here. He comes across as a kid born into wealth, rode the money to adult hood, took over a company and went on to buy companies, strip them, lay people off and someone who couldn't carry the State he was Governor of. Still reading this shows he knows that raising taxes is one of the ways to repay debts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Ro...003.E2.80.9307