Why #MittpocalyseNow in Nevada? Mittens Just Can't Close the Deal.

Just this morning, we noticed the continuing Democratic voter registration surge in Clark County. That's one way to explain the new ARG poll showing President Obama surging to a 51% to 44% lead over Mitt Romney here in Nevada. Here's another:



Romney's "47%" comments really seem to have cemented the growing sentiment among voters that he's out of touch with the vast majority of Americans and their economic struggles. Greg Sargent noted again this morning how the foundation Romney's entire campaign strategy (blaming Obama for the economy) seems to be falling apart. And interestingly enough, The Los Angeles Times noticed this first hand right here in Nevada. Take a look at what voters in Washoe County have to say about Romney.

Erick Phillips left the Army after being seriously injured in a firefight in Afghanistan (he rolled up a sleeve to show a jagged scar from a bullet hole). After recovering, he waged a long, fruitless hunt for full-time work, only recently landing a job as a data-entry clerk. "Not great," he shrugged, "but it's something."

Phillips is a Republican but leans toward the president because he's disappointed with Romney and what sound to him like shopworn proposals. "I haven't seen a Republican plan that doesn't involve cutting taxes for the wealthiest," said the strapping 34-year-old. "It seems to be the same old plan repackaged over and over."

The simple "are you better off" question worked brilliantly when Ronald Reagan posed it in 1980 as a campaign capper in his debate against Jimmy Carter. But even if most here were quick to say yes or no, their answers only scratched at the deeper calculations many are making as they decide how — and even whether —to vote.

[Yvonne] Bellaart, the McCain-turned-Obama supporter, explained why, for her, that's so.

"You have to look at things on more than a personal basis," she said, pausing on a downtown bridge over the Truckee River. "You have to think about what's good for the country as a whole."

And herein lies perhaps the biggest reason why Nevada will remain a Blue State this fall. Simply put, Mitt Romney has not given us a convincing argument to elect him President. He's tried all sorts of attacks on President Obama, but he can't give voters one reason why he can do a better job.

And as long as Romney closes this way, the door to victory will continue closing on him.