Whit Ayres’s comments on the Republican primary race:
Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster, who worked on Jon M. Huntsman Jr.’s campaign this year, offered Mr. Romney this advice: “Let your smart operatives do the process stuff. You do the vision thing.”
The emphasis on delegates explains why Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney are dedicating scarce campaign hours and dollars in Puerto Rico, with its relatively small number of delegates (23).
The media fascination with delegates threatens to crowd out coverage of meatier topics that are central to the campaign’s larger messages. On television and Twitter, the political classes are arguing about delegate math, not unemployment or the candidates’ plans for tax cuts or entitlement reform. “It is taking up a lot of oxygen,” Mr. Ayres said. Yes, he said, “It is a very important part of the story.”
But he added, “It’s a mistake to get sucked into a mathematical discussion to the point where that’s the only message that is being communicated.”
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