Could Newt Be Doing Mitt A Big Favor?

Is Newt Gingrich actually helping Mitt Romney by branding him a Massachusetts Moderate?

Not right now. 

The label is meant to be a curse among righter-than-though evangelical, Tea Party and other hardline conservative voters who all the GOP candidates are appealing to in the primaries. 

But that could change.

Richard Nixon's advice to Republicans was run to the right in the primaries and to the center in the general election.

So far they're all following the first part of Nixon's dictum, and no one seems to be trying harder than Romney, who has made dramatic turns to the right on many issues he supported back in the days when he ran for governor and the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.

If he gets the GOP nomination at the Tampa convention at the end of August, as many expect, look for him to spin back to the center and latch on to the moniker he now appears so determined to run away from. 

He can't expect to win many swing centrist votes in November, especially in the Jewish community that the GOP is targeting this year, with the same arch-conservative positions he is swearing loyalty to today.

If Mitt makes it into the fall campaign as the GOP nominee, he may be silently thanking his current nemesis, Gingrich, for the Massachusetts Moderate moniker. American elections are decided in the middle by independents and swing voters.  Barack Obama knows that and it's a big reason why so many liberals are upset with him.