GOP credibilty gap hindering election slate

Massachusetts, in spite of whatever else you might say about it, is a well-educated, progressive, and high-income state. But with Romney travelling around the country to court the hard right faction of the party, it's no wonder that the GOP is having a hard time fielding a slate of candidates. The part of the party he's kissing ass with is the bit that's most at odds with the folks back here.

Attorney General, in particular, should be an easy one for them to field:

Just a month before GOP delegates meet in Lowell to endorse a slate, no serious Republican contenders have emerged for two of the most important constitutional positions, attorney general and state treasurer. The party has embraced a politically inexperienced candidate with few financial resources for state auditor and is courting another with few political credentials to run for secretary of state.

[...]

Darrell Crate, Romney's hand-picked state GOP chairman, said he is proud of the candidates the party has recruited so far to fill out the statewide ticket. He acknowledged the party is in a weak position, but he attributed that to what he says are years of neglect.

This was one of Romney's big pledges -- to revitalize the party. But it's not working. Perhaps because there's a growing sense that he told a bunch of bold lies to get into office with the sole idea of advancing his career on a national level.

Neglect or no neglect, the combination of Romney's slick cynicism with the overall hard-right-no-middle tack the GOP is taking as a whole makes it incredibly challenging to cultivate the Bill Weld-style fiscal conservatives that have played well here.

Any potential GOP candidate here has to spend at least some extra time differentiating him or herself from the national party -- explaining how he's not out to take over a woman's uterus, spy on email, raise massive budget deficits, or stop teaching evolution in the schools. I think we're seeing the same thing in New Hampshire as well, and I think it's indicitive of problems the Republicans are going to face in plenty of other states in the next few elections.