Presidential race becomes a question of nature vs. nurture - The Washington Post ;..
Those day-to-day wins didn’t matter once the world economy seized and McCain uttered his “fundamentals of our economy are strong” line. Political nature took over, pushing Obama to a historic victory that included wins in longtime Republican strongholds like Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia.
Romney strategists and allies insist that 2012 is another year when political nature will win out over political nurture. (Although it’s worth noting that they would less readily concede that they are losing the day-to-day campaign to Obama.) For all of the Obama team’s attempts to turn this election into a devil-you-know-vs.-devil-you-don’t choice, the Romney team argues it will ultimately fail because voters see this election as about one thing and only one thing: Obama’s ability (or inability) to improve the economy.