I’ll have reaction from my Romney guy – separate from Middle Cheese – in a little bit; but for now, here’s Middle Cheese, who is now affiliated with the Romney campaign.
Based on the chattering class buzz about Governor Romney’s “Faith in America” speech, it was a universal homerun. Heck, even Chris Matthews liked it:
MATTHEWS: For the first time in this campaign, it’s long already, I heard greatness this morning
More importantly, how will this speech play in Iowa? Prior to the speech, Team Romney’s internal Iowa polls showed that Governor Huckabee had the support of 54% of evangelical Christians, Romney had 16%, and the rest were split among the other GOP candidates or were “undecided.” While Romney did not deliver this speech in response to Huckabee’s Iowa surge, it should the effect of keeping Huckabee’s share of the evangelical vote from rising, while giving Romney a small bounce. If so, this probably keeps Huckabee from reaching the 30-34 percent of Iowa caucus goers he needs to win.