Romney is using Iran and Netanyahu as his dowry to his own Republican base.
As George Will put it on ABC’s “This Week” after the Israel visit this month: “In Israel, he’s courting not the Jewish vote… The great support for Israel right now, the energy, is in the evangelical community, which is a part of the Republican base. So the trip to Israel is a way of firing up this enormously important, somewhat skeptical of Mitt Romney Republican base.”
It is expected that many Evangelicals, unable to stomach either Obama or Romney, will stay home this November. Polls suggest that in order to win, Romney must get an astonishing 61% of the white vote. How is a Mormon candidate to convince born again Christians to storm the voting booths in his behalf? Only by showing them that he is Israel’s only hope.
Will it work? Well, the Vegas line on the vote is 11-4 in favor of Obama, 4-7 in favor of Romney. If you put your money on Romney and he wins, you could make a killing.