Romney must learn from primary mistakes

Mitt Romney's urgent assignment now is to learn the lessons of a Republican primary season where missteps cost time and money while reinforcing doubts about his presidential candidacy.

It's a must, even his allies say, given President Barack Obama's well-oiled and election-tested machine.

At first glance during the Republican primaries, Romney's team appeared disciplined compared with his rivals'. He also kept one eye on Obama the whole time.

Yet, Romney gave his GOP opponents openings with verbal gaffes that highlighted his vulnerabilities. He let states such as South Carolina and Colorado slip away, unexpected losses that extended the campaign for the nomination and prevented Romney from focusing on Obama in earnest until this month, when chief rival Rick Santorum dropped out.

Since then, Romney aides have mapped out a general election strategy that they will try to execute with more precision. "It's a completely different game in the general election. You have to define a set of states that you have to have, and win them," said Charlie Black, a GOP presidential campaign strategist. "It's a one-day sale."

To succeed against Obama, Republicans say, Romney will have to be nimble in accumulating the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Allies say he must anticipate an Obama rise in toss-up states and GOP-leaning states where Democrats may try to compete.

Romney failed to do that in at least two instances during the primary.

The former Massachusetts governor flew with a head of steam into South Carolina after a New Hampshire victory, and his team all but expected him to cruise to victory in the first-in-the-South primary. But he ended up spending 10 days squaring off against a suddenly ascendant Newt Gingrich, who ultimately won the state.

Romney then turned to Florida, where he beat back a Gingrich challenge.

But while Romney was doing that, Santorum had skipped ahead to Colorado, where voters embraced the former senator from Pennsylvania as he seized on the unfolding debate over the Obama administration's ruling on Catholic hospitals and contraception.

By the time Romney turned his attention to Colorado, dropping a token sum on television ads in the campaign's closing days, the state was slipping away. Santorum's victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri established him as Romney's chief rival and set the course for two more months of the nomination fight.

So far in the general election, supporters say Romney has shown he's adept at countering Obama in pivotal states.

Romney pre-empted the president this past week in North Carolina and Ohio, states Obama won in 2008 and that are competitive this year. Romney used Obama's own pledges from the 2008 campaign against him in both states.