(Community Matters) Reads like an SNL skit but I’m pretty sure he meant these comments to assure supportes and donors – Romney political director Rich Beeson in Politico’s Playbook:
ABOARD AIR ROMNEY — “Romney campaign: Ohio is still competitive,” by Ginger Gibson in Vandalia, Ohio: “‘There’s just a nice wide open path, and so … we’re not in a situation where we’re forced into this boxed canyon to say, “We have to win this string of states,”‘ Romney political director Rich Beeson said in a briefing aboard Romney’s campaign plane while headed to a rally here. ‘If we lose Ohio, can we still win?’ Beeson said, repeating the question asked of him by reporters. ‘I say, “If its and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas.” … I just don’t deal in if-then statements.’ Beeson compared states on the map to children (he has two boys,) saying individual states can’t be written off. ‘It’s like kids out there – you’re not ever going to say I’m going to lose one of my kids … So … I don’t sit down and sort of lop those off. I prefer to look at the map holistically.’ …
“Beeson pointed to other states where he thinks Romney will be competitive, like Wisconsin, as proof that the GOP nominee’s route to 270 isn’t limited to Ohio. ‘The president had to go into Wisconsin … We are by any stretch inside the margin of error in Ohio, and the Obama campaign is going to have some problems there … In Ohio, the state where they just opened their 100th office, we have 40, we have an equal number of contacts on the ground there … So I just want to make sure people are looking to take into effect, take into account the quality of the contacts, the number of contacts, not just the staff and offices. … [W]e trust our internal polls … I don’t make any campaign decisions based off of what I read in the Washington Post. So I’m not going to get into the specifics of what our polls say or don’t say. … I think the Obama campaign might be – Jim Messina [Obama campaign manager], I saw his comments the other day … They’re sort of spiking the ball at the 30-yard line right now. … I kind of hope the Obama campaign is basing their campaign on what the public polls say.'”
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