Haley Barbour Says Mitt Romney Really “Not a True Frontrunner”

Governor Haley Barbour, R-Miss., truly one of the most politically astute Republicans on the scene, is stressing that despite some (not all) polls, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is not a true frontrunner in the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination race:

Despite Mitt Romney’s consistently placing at or near the top in polls of the GOP presidential field, Governor Haley Barbour, R-Miss., says he’s “not a true frontrunner” – even if he is “the best known of our candidates.”

Barbour, in a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said there is no real frontrunner amid the 2012 GOP candidates, in part because he thinks Republicans are more focused on unseating President Obama than picking a candidate who shares their views.

“This [election] reminds me of a lot of past Democratic presidential contests, like Jimmy Carter in ’76, Bill Clinton in ’92, where there is not really a frontrunner,” Barbour said. “Mitt Romney is the best known of our candidates. Not a true frontrunner. What we see people doing more than I’ve ever seen in my life is, instead of saying which one agrees with me most, which one do I like the most, they’re saying, which one has the best chance to beat Obama?”

Barbour said voters are “going through ‘Cinderella trying on the slipper’ with the other candidates in the field, but that ultimately “after we’ve gone through that cycle, people will seriously focus on, is it really Romney who is the most electable or is there somebody else that has come out there that I think has the best chance to beat Obama?

“This election is about President Obama’s policies and his record,” Barbour told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “Whoever we nominate will get elected.”

Barbous is one of the political heavyweights who political junkies take very seriously.

On his last point I beg to differ: there are still a variety of factors that could cause a Republican nominee not to get elected — particularly if the party nominates someone who chases away independent and women voters. Read the message Peggy Noonan was trying to send Republicans HERE. It is not a given that the GOP nominee is the winner.