Romney has had a lousy week and some conservatives thinks its time for him to clean house and bring on board some seasoned, savvy aides with national campaign experience.

They may have a point.

Reuters:

"Mr. Obama is being hurt by an economic recovery that is weakening for the third time in three years," said the Journal, whose editorial page is a barometer of the thinking of leading conservatives. "But Mr. Romney hasn't been able to take advantage, and if anything he is losing ground."

 

The anxiety over Romney's campaign has been heightened this week by its conflicting messages over his position on a key part of the Supreme Court's ruling that upheld Obama's healthcare overhaul. But it was only the latest example of message problems from a campaign that even some Republicans say is being outmaneuvered by Obama's team.

 

Last month, Romney struggled to articulate a detailed response to Obama's executive order that stopped deportations of thousands of children of illegal immigrants.

 

The Republican - who trails Obama badly among Latino voters - still has not come up with an immigration plan that might cut into Obama's lead among Hispanics without angering Romney's conservative base.

 

Romney's decision to take this week off at his lakeside home in New Hampshire - which led to the photographs of the multi-millionaire zipping around on a jet ski with his wife, Ann - prompted some fellow Republicans to say that Romney had blown a chance to strike a more patriotic theme around the nation's July 4 Independence Day holiday on Wednesday.

 

Instead, some said, Romney fed a narrative being pushed by Obama's campaign: that the wealthy Republican is out of touch with the concerns of most other Americans, particularly the middle-class voters both candidates covet.

 

"I don't even think this is his fault," conservative radio talk host Laura Ingraham said. "This is his advisers. This is not Romney, this is the advisers telling him: 'Oh, it's fine. Take a week.' There's no week to spare, we have a country to save."

There just doesn't seem to be a quick enough reaction to Obama attacks. There is little or no anticipation so that the candidate appears to be scrambling. Obama has been hammering Romney on his years at Bain Capital for weeks and Romney's response is just now gathering some momentum. But now the Obama people have begun the attack on Romney's off shore accounts which promises to be extremely toxic among blue collars. How are they countering that?

All campaigns have problems when they switch gears from running a primary campaign to a national race. These problems are fixable. The right is correct to demand that Romney reach out and bring on board some staffers who know how to run a national campaign. Judging by the last couple of weeks, he could use a little help.