Jonathan Martin of Politico writes today:

Ask the rising stars of the GOP about their party’s future and two names repeatedly come up.
Neither of them is Mitt Romney.
One of them, Ronald Reagan, was born in 1911; the other, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, in 1970. Neither Romney, born in 1947, or the once politically ascendant Baby Boomers he represents are central to the conversation about what direction the party takes in the years ahead, even as the former Massachusetts governor receives the GOP nomination here this week. Romney seems more a placeholder than he does heralding any sort of new political movement.

If one believed that the media saw the potential election of Mitt Romney to the presidency as a traumatic event, we might think they’re following the states of the Kübler-Ross model. They’ve been in denial about that potential outcome for a while, and we’ve certainly seen anger (voter-ID laws will steal the election! All of Romney’s ads are lies! Mitt Romney killed some woman!); now they’re in bargaining: Sure, Romney might win, but he won’t be that consequential or mark the rise of a new political movement; he’ll be more of a “placeholder.”