The Real Gov. Romney

Valuable corrective just posted by NYT on the allegedly successful and bi-partisan Romney years as governor that the candidate boasted about this week in the debate and for months--years--on the stump.  Many of us had moaned about Obama not even mentioning that the governor's approval rating was 35% when he left office in the state and that he expects to lose his home state by 25% in November.  But as the Times shows,  it goes much deeper than that--a weak overall record, the vetoing of key Democratic bills, and much more.

 "[I]n contrast to his statements in the debate, many say, Mr. Romney neither mastered the art of reaching across the aisle nor achieved unusual success as governor. To the contrary, they say, his relations with Democrats could be acrimonious, and his ability to get big things done could be just as shackled as is President Obama’s ability to push his agenda through a hostile House of Representatives."

In other news, hear me talk about another amazing campaign--the highly influential 1934 governor's race in California starring Upton Sinclair--on NPR's "On the Media" this week, listen here.