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Mitt Romney’s supporters have long sought to cast this year’s presidential campaign as a rerun of the history-making 1980 election, in which a charismatic Republican with impressively shellacked hair won a landslide victory over a Democratic incumbent who was perceived as listless and overwhelmed by events. It’s a loose parallel, at best — although even the most ardent Democrat must admit that it looks more compelling now than it did two weeks ago.Most notably, Ronald Reagan had already become a beloved avatar of the right by 1980. He was a standard-bearer for lower taxes and smaller government, and a symbol of nostalgic Americanism who had stood up to eco-freaks and student radicals as California’s governor. Even those conservatives who are most excited by Romney’s debate performance in Denver and his recent surge in the polls know in their hearts that he’s a human sand castle, reshaped by every incoming tide, who lacks clear convictions of any kind (unless you want to describe a preening sense of superiority as a core belief).Continue Reading… … Read More