After Mitt Romney’s continued wins in late primary states the obvious Republican nominee for president has officially entered into direct campaign battle-duty with President Obama.  Yet, as he does so, he faces a self-inflicted Sisyphean task to overcome an utter inability to relate to the average voter and his endless flip-flopping on virtually every campaign issue.  Even with current polls indicating a dead heat, the former Massachusetts governor finds himself running against his own record, an improving economy and an incumbent regaining his public approval while Mitt struggles with his own relatability issues. 

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Telling Hundreds Of Eligible Citizens That They Are Ineligible To Vote

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has ordered the state to purge all “non-citizens” from the voting rolls prior to November’s election.  But that list compiled by the Scott administration is so riddled with errors that, in Miami-Dade County alone, hundreds of U.S. citizens are being told they are ineligible to vote, ThinkProgress has learned exlusively. 

For any of you who’ve had politics come between you and your family this article is one I’m sure many of us can relate to.  Sit down, read it through, take a deep breath and think about picking up the phone. 

My dad is conservative.  I’m not.  For our relationship to survive, we had to stop talking politics. 

The Heartland Institute, the world’s most prominent think-tank promoting scepticism about man-made climate change, is getting a lot of heat.  In recent weeks it has lost an estimated $825,000 in expected donations, a couple of directors and almost its entire branch in Washington, DC.  At its annual shindig in Chicago this week, the institute’s president, Joseph Bast, said Heartland had “discovered who our real friends are.”  The 100-odd guests who failed to show up for the “7th Climate Conference” were not among them. 

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) will soon introduce legislation that would allow states to use federal funds they’re receiving through Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs to build a universal single-payer system.  Advocates are describing the bill as a “lifeline” for advocates:

It would create a mechanism for states to request federal funds after establishing their own health insurance programs….  It would, for the first time, create a system under which a Medicare-for-all program could be rolled out on a state-by-state basis.  In California’s case, it would make coverage available to the roughly 7 million people now lacking health insurance. 

“This is a huge deal,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica advocacy group. “ This is a lifeline for people who want to create a Medicare system at the state level.” 

The bill could warm the hearts of liberals who expressed frustration with the Affordable Care Act’s more moderate approach of building on the existing health care system and should also satisfy GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.  The former Massachusetts governor has sought to differentiate his 2006 health reform from Obamacare by rejecting a federal prescription for reform and promising to “pursue policies that give each state the power to craft a health care reform plan that is best for its own citizens.” 

Given the ex-governor’s “rich man” image one must respond to this post’s headline with a resounding “WHY?”  Throughout the primaries Romney has struggled to relate to the middle class.  He’s tried, but those attempts have shown only how incapable he is of comprehending the issues people who make less than a quarter of a million dollars year face daily, let alone what it takes to feed a family of 3 on $30,000 a year.  From his $10,000 bet with Rick Perry to his “corporations are people” defense to his lament to NASCAR fans that he doesn’t watch “…as closely as some of the most ardent fans, but I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners”, Mitt simply cannot become that “every-man” the way the middle-class raised Obama can. 

An increasing number of former Republican representatives and close associates are making their criticisms of the current GOP known.  Is it too late to make much of difference this election cycle or will these voices make moderates and independents sit back and employ a bit more introspection into their own beliefs before making their final choices come November? 

Having spent a decent amount of time living and traveling throughout Europe I consider myself an avid enthusiast of passenger rail.  Each time I return to the US I am almost disappointed that I have to climb back behind the wheel of a car to go anywhere instead of hopping a train.  When President Obama announced his pursuit of high-speed rail expansion across the country, I was needless to say, jubilant but in the end unsurprised when Republican lawmakers crucified the effort and state governors refused their portions of federal funding.