With Newt Gingrich now leading Mitt Romney in the South Carolina polls, and Rick Santorum officially besting him in the certified Iowa tally, the former Massachusetts governor needed to hit it out of the park in last night’s debate. Unfortunately for Romney, his performance didn’t cut it. He had some great moments – as Michael Barone noted, Romney expertly navigated through tough questions on Bain Capital and Marianne Gingrich’s interview – but his response to queries about his tax returns were painfully inadequate.
It’s true the tax return issue is largely a trumped-up controversy that isn’t nearly as critical as Romney critics make it out to be. And it’s hard to believe that Romney is “hiding something” (other than the fact that he’s very, very rich, as John noted on Twitter) by not disclosing these records. But even his supporters should be worried that the former Massachusetts governor hasn’t been able to come up with a solid way to deflect the issue at this point in the race. This answer is not going to cut it:
[W]hen pressed whether he’d follow the path of his father, George Romney, who released 12 years of taxes during his 1967 presidential bid, arguing that there might be a “fluke” in just one year’s results, Romney responded, “Maybe.”
“I don’t know how many years I’ll release,” Romney said as the crowd booed. Romney paused and smiled.
“I’ll release multiple years, I don’t know how many years,” Romney said. “But I’ll be happy to do that. I know there are some who are anxious to see if they can make it difficult for a campaign to be successful. I know the Democrats want to go after my being successful. I’m not going to apologize for being successful.”
If Romney doesn’t want to release multiple years of tax returns right now, that’s understandable. But he needs to be able to cogently argue why he’s not doing it, in a way that doesn’t sound like he’s dodging the issue. Otherwise, this will continue to dog him, especially if Gingrich manages to win this weekend’s primary.
Romney’s most effective argument in the race is that he’d be the most electable candidate against President Obama. But he’ll undermine that if he seems like he’s hiding some potentially damaging bombshell until after he secures the nomination. His point last night about Democratic attacks is accurate – he’ll likely be slammed with class warfare rhetoric. But that’s true no matter when he releases the documents, and Republican primary voters aren’t the type to oppose a candidate for being too wealthy and successful. Romney should disclose his tax returns as soon as possible, if only to diffuse this issue and assure his supporters there aren’t any unpleasant surprises waiting for them in the spring.
