Can Mitt Romney finally convince Republicans he’s the frontrunner?

When Chris Christie decided not to run for president in 2012, the media spectacle cast light on the dueling storyline of the Republican race so far: The party's effort to find a candidate who can beat President Obama next year--while also finding a candidate who is not Mitt Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor was the early frontrunner for the nomination, even before he officially entered the race. Long before the polls closed on Election Day four years ago, Romney was perceived by fellow Republicans as the man to beat heading into the 2012, in part because of his experience of having run a national campaign before.

The sentiment was even shared by the political advisers to President Obama, who have long considered Romney a serious threat to Obama's re-election.

But over the past few months, Romney has stood awkwardly by as his fellow Republicans have placed their hopes on countless alternatives. That includes party stars like Christie and Jeb Bush, who have declined to run, and rivals like Michele Bachmann, who shot to the top of the polls during the summer but has since flamed out.

Rick Perry was cast as the party's potential savior, but his star has fallen in recent weeks, amid questions about his ideology and his ability to beat Obama. Now the race seems to be back where it began, with the view that the nomination is Romney's to lose.

So, what does Romney do now?

All along, the ex-governor has followed what many in his campaign have described as a slow and steady approach to the campaign, with the hope that Republicans will inevitably circle back to his campaign—a strategy the candidate hinted at in an interview last week on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"At a stage like this, my view is you just express what you believe, talk about the issues you care about, hopefully people will come to you in the final analysis," Romney said. "I know I could get a quick bump in the polls by saying some outrageous and incendiary things which would draw a lot of attention, but in the final analysis I think people will move toward the person who they think will get the economy going again and who understands the challenges that America faces."

In other words, while Romney has given up on being the first choice of Republican voters, he's aiming to be the last man standing. As a strategy, it is hardly electrifying—but so far it is helping him to maintain a consistent position in the polls, even as the race remains extremely volatile.

A new CBS News poll found Romney tied with Herman Cain among likely Republican primary voters, with 17 percent support each. That's a 12-point increase for Cain since the last CBS poll conducted two weeks ago. Perry, who had been in the lead, saw his support drop to 12 percent, an 11-point decease. But Romney remained steady. His support increased by just 1 percent.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday found Romney at a similar pace: His 25 percent support among likely GOP voters was the same amount of support he had last month, a time when Perry and Cain saw their numbers change drastically.

The most conservative Republicans and tea party supporters are the two voting blocs that have been most skeptical about Romney's candidacy. But in a hopeful sign for the Massachusetts governor, those voters consistently name Romney as their second choice.

Romney's inability to break out of the pack suggests his position as frontrunner is weak, at best—a position the Romney campaign acknowledges and is actively trying to change.

With Christie out of the race, Romney has moved to consolidate his support among big donors and key Republican activists in the hope of creating the air of inevitability that his candidacy has so far lacked.

But the primary calendar still contains some difficult challenges for Romney, especially in the early primary states of Iowa and South Carolina.

He signaled over the summer that he wouldn't compete in Iowa as aggressively as he did four years ago, when he poured millions of dollars into the state's first in the nation caucuses only to lose to Mike Huckabee. But a recent American Research Group poll of likely GOP primary voters found Romney leading in Iowa, with 21 percent support, compared to Bachmann's 15 percent and Perry's 14 percent.

According to Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, the results indicate Romney still has a significant threshold of support in the state leftover from his '08 bid—which could be enough to push him over the top, if he were to campaign there.

"If he were to come to Iowa and show people he wants their vote, he has a serious shot of winning," Robinson told The Ticket. "But so far, I don't see him doing that."

The Romney campaign says its Iowa strategy hasn't changed, but the candidate's wife, Ann, made a trip to the state this week—which some observers took as a signal that Romney is reconsidering his options there.

In New Hampshire, Romney holds a considerable lead over his rivals—a recent Suffolk University poll found him with a 27-point advantage. While Perry has stepped up his campaigning there in recent weeks, the biggest risk could come from Jon Huntsman, who is hoping his moderate message will appeal to the state's many independents. If Romney doesn't win by an overwhelming margin, a loss in the expectations game could be damaging heading into South Carolina, where a recent Winthrop University poll found him narrowly trailing Perry, 31 percent to 27 percent.

Romney appears to be trying build a firewall against potential primary losses in Florida, where Perry's numbers have nosedived in recent weeks. But after Florida, Romney immediately runs into trouble again in Nevada, a state that was once viewed as an easy win for him. A Magellan Strategies survey released last month found Perry leading Romney in the state, 29 percent to 24 percent.

A spokeswoman for Romney declined to comment on specific strategy, but Republicans close to the campaign insist members of the party who had been searching for other options in the race will eventually line up behind the former governor—just as the party coalesced behind John McCain after early stumbles four years ago.

For now, Romney sounds like he's happy to wait for his moment to come.

"I'm the guy at the time that's needed, and if you guys agree, terrific," Romney said on "Morning Joe" about his message to voters. "If you don't, that's your right too."

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