Mr. Romney still lacks the consistency of political belief that drove voters to Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

An example:

Yesterday, Barack Obama was in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to deliver his awful class-war speech again. On page 39 of Mr. Romney's 160-page economic plan, he attacks the president's "inflammatory" rhetoric against "so-called millionaires and billionaires." Mr. Romney adds: "He actually includes every household earning more than $250,000 in that category." But turn to the next page, and you read that Mr. Romney will eliminate taxes on capital gains, dividends and interest "for any taxpayer with an adjusted gross income of under $200,000."

This transparently insulates the wealthy Mr. Romney from attack, but the ploy discomfits and annoys his natural base. He's trying to force Republicans to cast a cynical vote in a year when many don't want to do that. Some will, but not all. It's the "not all" that could cost him the election.

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