Richard Cohen has some fun with Romney’s flip-flops here.

It seems clear to me that Romney is a pretty conservative guy, who for political expediency’s sake tacked left in Massachusetts and now for the same reason is tacking right–although this latest tack is probably more consistent with what he really believes. If Romney had made his career pretty much anywhere else but in Massachusetts, he wouldn’t be having this problem.

A couple of (uncommitted in ‘08) friends have made good points about Romney lately. One was telling me the other day that Romney is the victim of the rules changing. It used to be that it was expected that Republicans would become more conservative when they ran for the nomination, and conservatives would welcome it. But Romney has changed on so much so recently, in the age of YouTube and especially against the back-drop of the recent assault on Kerry’s flip-flops, that he’s getting hammered.

Another friend, on the other hand, pointed out that conservatives usually don’t run national races on just being conservative. They bring a flavor and a spin to their conservatism. It isn’t a check-the-box exercise. They apply their conservatism to the problems of the day and come up with their own variety–Bush, Newt, and Reagan all did this. Romney hasn’t yet. He’s just collected a bunch of conservative positions, and is running on the theme of competitiveness. That risks seeming a lot like Bob Dole’s “I can be Ronald Reagan if you want me to be.”

But it’s early, and there’s plenty of time for all the candidates to grow (or shrink).