Romney's Troubles Now Extend to More Than Just Explaining Bain

MAULDIN, SC- The road to the nomination for president in either of the major parties is never without its bumps. But after the past week, frontrunner Mitt Romney may want to buy some extra-resilient shock absorbers.

Romney and South Carolina have never been a particularly good match. Romney isn’t southern, isn’t Baptist and doesn’t have a military background. Before votes were cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, his team in South Carolina conceded privately they would be happy with a solid showing here and did not need to win. Then Romney won the first two states and there was talk that South Carolina would be where he could clinch the nomination. The momentum was reflected in the polls, which showed .

Now, as it turns out, . And the New Hampshire win is looking like little more than a win on his home field. But before the Iowa win was overturned, Romney stumbled badly at the debate in Myrtle Beach on Monday when asked about his personal finances. And the consensus is that much last night either.

Attacks from an Unexpected Source

As Romney has said at the debates, he expected to be attacked by Democrats in the general election for his wealth, but as it became apparent that time was running out for them, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum stepped up their attacks on Romney’s time at Bain Capital, which Romney founded in 1984.

As a private equity firm, Bain is not obligated to disclose financial data. The company does claim to control over $66 billion in assets and it has worked with some of the most well-known companies in the country, including Burger King, The Weather Channel and The Sport Authority. Bain specialized in remaking struggling companies and making them profitable. Romney is quick to point out the positive impact Bain had on Staples, among others, and has freely acknowledged that there have been failures to go along with those successes.

Two of those failures occurred in South Carolina. In Gaffney, a plant was opened and closed within the space of five years, causing over a 100 manufacturing jobs to be lost.

But people in Gaffney seem to barely remember the plant and aren’t even comfortable characterizing the venture as a failure.

In Georgetown, where a steel mill Bain took over filed bankruptcy eight years after being bought by Romney’s group, the feelings are a little different. A longtime employee blames Bain for the company’s slide.

When Romney was called on the carpet as a “vulture capitalist” by the likes of Rick Perry and slammed by Newt Gingrich for his business dealings, many conservatives rose to his defense and for several news cycles Capitalism was defended on philosophical grounds. Among the defenders was South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who endorsed Romney in the summer. "We were surprised that people like Newt Gingrich joined Barack Obama in criticizing capitalism," Loftis said. “We like free enterprise. And people in South Carolina like people who are successful.”

Taft Matney, a longtime conservative consultant from Mauldin, agreed. “Republicans find themselves annoyed when they see capitalism criticized – especially in an election year in which the major issue set is jobs and the economy,” Matney said.

It now appears that if Romney loses in South Carolina it will not be because of Bain, which does not surprise Tyler Jones, a Democratic strategist who lampooned Romney with a faux endorsement from Gordon Gekko. “The reason the Bain issue isn't working in South Carolina is because the Republican Party supports unfettered predatory capitalism with no regard for workers or their families,” said Jones.

More Than Bain

However, if it was just Bain Romney had to defend that would be one thing. The past week has revealed other areas of concern for Romney that a slew of endorsements have not been able to conceal.

Romney’s tax returns have become a major issue and he still has not committed to releasing them.  In an age where transparency is demanded if not required, that has proved problematic. It did not help when it was reported that Romney—whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars—paid taxes at a rate of just 15 percent. While technically legal, it struck many as unfair. Romney, of course, did not create the tax code, but then it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that Romney had tens of millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts, which kept his tax rate low. Romney went from looking like the unwitting beneficiary of a tax system in desperate need of reform, to someone who was actively seeking out loopholes that could benefit his already-bulging wallet.

Romney’s decision to withhold his tax returns has only fueled speculation that the returns might contain information that the former Massachusetts Gov. is not anxious about having in the public sphere. It has already been reported that Romney donated millions to the Mormon Church and on occasion, transferred stock from companies Bain worked with to the church. But because the full returns haven’t been released, the exact amount he has given is not known. With plenty of suspicions among Evangelical Christians in states like South Carolina about Mormonism, Romney would seem to have little interest in providing data that would confirm a strong connection between himself and the church.

However, the issue in the race is, as Matney and others have said, is jobs. Romney has claimed he created over 100,000 jobs while at Bain, but has waffled when asked to explain how he arrived at that figure.

For a conservative like George Mcleer, that’s a problem. McLeer, the Executive Director of the Mauldin Cultural Center describe Romney’s defense of his business background as “underwhelming.”

McLeer also said he believed Romney, as well as the other GOP contenders were “pro-rich,” a telling characterization.

Jane Kizer, a Santorum supporter who lives in Mauldin, echoed McLeer’s sentiment. “It is one thing to own a company and make sound decisions for a profit,” Kizer said. “It is another to sacrifice employees for gains, which is what it appears Romney has done.”

Oblivious or Not?

Romney now has to deal with the perception that he got rewarded handsomely whether one of Bain’s buyouts succeeded or failed, which exacerbates the belief that he is oblivious to the growing income inequality that concerns many voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, if not here in South Carolina.

And, as with the refusal to release his taxes, Romney has sometimes reinforced the notion that he is out of touch. He offered, rather casually, to bet Rick Perry $10,000 during a debate. He was paid nearly $400,000 in speaking fees, an amount which he described as “not very much.”

Still, Romney has spent the last four years creating networks and making endorsements throughout the country that most believe will give him the backing and infrastructure to withstand most any challenge in the primary.

But, the questions that have been raised in the last week will only intensify in the general election, as even Romney has acknowledged, and that’s not even taking into account how Romney’s penchant for flip-flopping on issues has been moved to the backburner by his GOP rivals.

The General Effect

The jury—and vote—is obviously still out on how Romney’s wealth will play and how his handling of it will matter to voters in swing states.

Rob Hartwell, a Romney supporter in one of those swing states—Virginia—believes Romney’s success will play well. “Class warfare and the politics of envy are key components of the Obama strategy, but voters recognize that someone with a successful job creating track record with private sector experience has something to offer that Obama does not,” Hartwell said.

Matney agreed, and believed that if handled properly, Romney’s Bain experience can be used as a strength. “Combining a message of job creation with Bain and highlighting the economic failings of the Obama administration could help make the difference in a tight general election contest,” he said.

Jones, unsurprisingly, disagreed about how Romney’s wealth will be received. “I believe his support of deregulation on Wall Street and belief that "corporations are people" will be the defining issue in the general election, and it will crush him in the heartland of America.”

Should Romney somehow slip and lose the nomination, political historians could well look to this past week in South Carolina as the beginning of his fall.  Romney coming to the Palmetto State. His aides limited media access when he was here, allowing Romney to dodge questions about his religion and how he acquired his vast wealth.

When he was finally confronted about the latter, it came on the debate stage, where he looked ill-prepared. The picture Romney has presented in the last two debates cannot be reassuring to voters who believe their nominee must be able to stand toe-to-toe with Obama.

Throughout the primary season the best argument for a Romney nomination was his electability. The last week shows that even that is now an open question.