Business Insider: 'Mitt Romney's October Surprise Is Going To Be Legendary'

[NHDEMFORLIFE]

68. Even beyond the money

There is a whale of a difference between running for the nomination and running in the general. The biggest is that, in running for the nomination, unless you are a political rock star you are pretty much a blank slate. Most times, you also are running against multiple candidates and the vote is going to be fragmented. It seems to me that, under those circumstances, spending oodles of money on TV ads can make a great difference.
In the general, the vast majority of likely voters have been paying enough attention to have a clue as to who you are and what you stand for. In Romney's case, he let the president's campaign define him through months of ad blitzes in battleground states.
One person's conclusion: If Romney is counting on making a tremendous comeback based on buying TV ads, he is in more trouble than I ever could've hoped for.