Piercing the cocoon

Is the illusion of inevitability which has, at least in the mainstream press, surrounded the Obama re-election effort beginning to fade? Are some in the press starting to recognize that he's in a very tough spot for an incumbent?

I don't think we'd see the likes of this story from the AP if they weren't...

GOP mood toward Romney's fall prospects brighten

A conservative base that was deeply splintered during the Republican primaries has coalesced around Romney even faster than some in the party were expecting.

That's the case with Bobbi Jo Rohrberg, a 36-year-old teacher and conservative blogger from southwestern Iowa who backed Santorum at the state's leadoff caucuses in January. She was worried a Romney nomination would look too much like McCain's fateful run.

Rohrberg said Romney initially struck her as someone who was "not going to have a lot of bite, not going to show the teeth, going to be very likeable and agreeable to go along and get along, which isn't going to get you anywhere if you are going to win."

But she said those concerns faded after Romney blasted Obama outside failed California solar energy company Solyndra, which received federal stimulus loans, and his recent efforts to brand the president as incapable of guiding the economy.

Any of us who watched Mitt lose gracefully (the "Kennedy country" line notwithstanding) to Ted Kennedy back in 1994 shared those concerns, of course. That's part of the reason that it's been so heartening to see his campaign not just attacking and responding to attacks, but doing so consistently, quickly and effectively.

Of course, there is a wealth of material to work with.  Let's face it, as much as they'd like it to be, Obama's record is not exactly Reagan's in '84...