Do you guys think that he could attempt a slight shift right in his second, or possibly even third, term? I’m not saying a sudden shift to ultra-conservatism, but maybe becoming a moderate libertarian conservative in the guise of someone like New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu?
That way, he can build a reputation that might be appealing to mainstream conservatives.
Might be a little to early for that, unless he had very good foresight and predicted the D shift from pro-labor to pro-megabanks and pro-Wall Street.
And even then he'd be in no position to exploit the opening. If you're angry about the ACA, Romney pioneered the idea as governor. If you feel the party sold out to corporate fat cats, the worst possible antidote is a venture capital CEO.
The POD would have to be Edwards or Gephardt winning the 2004 election. Then the Democrats are still pro-blue collar worker or at least have a counterweight to Pelosi. They also own the botched Katrina response, the Iraq meltdown, and the slowing economy. The D's are unpopular going into the 2006 midterms which scares off stronger candidates for governor and convinces Romney to run for a second term.
It's still a tough battle. The financial collapse is unlikely to be butterflied, since the causes were in place before the POD. The anti-bailout sentiment still leads to something along the lines of the Tea Party, although it won't gain as much traction without the ACA, and some of the politicians elected by the movement will be Democrats because an R president takes over in 2009. But even with a weaker or more bipartisan Tea Party, there will still be anti-establishment feeling and Mitt just screams establishment.