Michigan is getting a bit rougher. Romney and his email squad are continuing to beat the drum that McCain is “pessimistic” about bringing all the auto jobs back and now hits McCain on his support on CAFE. Today McCain hit back with a mailer of his own going after Romney on his tax, er, “fee” and “loophole closing”, record in Massachusetts. Romney is playing the family card extremely hard ( e.g. his parents are buried there he tells one crowd). I don’t know whether voters, especially those under 60 yrs old, will be persuaded. (His sister lost a senate primary race despite the family name.) Aside from these skirmishes, I do think the race is peculiarly less intense considering what is at stake compared to NH and Iowa. It may be the national press corps is tuckered out and in a big state the energy and intense personal retail politics gets diluted.

UPDATE: McCain might make an electability argument fairly effectively. He is the only GOP candidate in a statistical tie with Hillary or Obama in the latest CNN national poll. The others surveyed all lose by double digits. He has a favorable/unfavorable ratio of 54/29% while Huckabee is 38/30% and Romney is at 31/39%. Interestingly 43% of people say they definitely will not vote for McCain. Hillary also scores a 43%. 62% say “never” to Romney and 52% to Huckabee. For reasons unknown Thompson is not in the survey.