Marc Ambinder: Romney Dark in FL, SC

From Ambinder’s blog at The Atlantic:

Romney Goes Dark In FL, South Carolina

Up on television in Florida and South Carolina through yesterday, Mitt Romney is not running any television ads in those states now, according to a Republican with knowledge of the traffic purchases in the state.

Romney’s campaign hasn’t booked any television time in those states, either.

And it’s probably for a good reason: Romney needs to focus all of his resources in Michigan.
But opponents will wonder: is Romney hedging his bets? Does he not want to spend money in South Carolina and Florida unless he wins Michigan and has a reason to stay in the race?

I don’t get this. Michigan is an open-primary state. McCain beat Bush in 2000 in Michigan on the strength of indie voters, and I would think, on the heels of his NH win, that he should be favored to repeat that performance. The latest MI poll at Real Clear Politics (the others are too old to matter) has Huckabee-Romney-McCain at 23-22-18, but that will change very quickly. Romney’s reliance on memories of his family’s political heyday 30-plus years ago helping him next Tuesday seems misplaced.

And what good is a Michigan squeaker if Romney finishes third, or even fourth, in South Carolina?

I’m not one for premature e-celebration, but I guess things are worse in Objectively Unfit Mitt’s camp than I had thought.