If Romney and Ryan are to have a chance, it's on the economy. And they're still stupid.

By Richard K. Barry 

That is so beautiful.

BuzzFeed ran an interesting and potentially very important story over the weekend. Not that we didn't know it, but it's still good to understand the implications. I'm referring to the point that the Romney-Ryan campaign seems to have abandoned its attempt to make everything in their campaign about the economy:

Mitt Romney's campaign for president appears to have quietly abandoned its guiding assumption, that the election would center on the struggling economy, and has visibly begun to feel for a new message.

According to a top Romney aide, this is where they are going:

No one in Boston thinks this can only be about the economy anymore. The economy narrows the gap and puts us in contention, but we have to bring more to the table.

You may recall that on the Friday after the DNC, a jobs report came out that was anemic at best, yet Obama has continued, since then, to gain strength in the polls. GOP speaking points during the convention were largely focused on the fact that no matter how strong a convention the Democrats had, a poor jobs report would be a major buzzkill.

Well, things didn't work out that way so the Romney campaign has had to reorient itself:

Romney and — particularly — his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, have spent a week road-testing alternatives, going positive and going negative, swinging at the president on everything from faith to foreign policy. The new efforts mark a shift from a summer of fruitless discipline and a convention in which attempts to present a friendly, moderate tone trumped any policy substance.

I suppose this is what desperation looks like if Romney thinks he can fight this election on social conservative ideas or on a more hawkish foreign policy.

Maybe someone needs to remind Mitt that this election will be won by appealing to swing voters. The new strategy is unlikely to do that.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)