Alec Macgillis hypothesizes that a marginally stronger GOP candidate would be in a much more commanding position than Romney:
Ask yourself: if the other side had settled on a truly generic Republican—that is, a moderately conservative fellow, a senator or governor or former governor who came without the trappings of Bain Capital and car elevators and dressage tax deductions and Romneycare and the serial flip-flopping and "America the Beautiful," how would that candidate be faring right now? I say, purely on gut instinct, that he’d be up two, three, four points.
Naturally, the Romney campaign differs:
They believe Obama has made radical miscalculations not just in governing, but in positioning his campaign. "One of the advantages in this race," [strategist Stuart] Stevens said, "is that the Obama people don't respect Mitt Romney. And that's how the Republicans were with Bill Clinton, and it always hurt us. I can't tell you how many meetings I sat in in 1992 where it was like, 'are you kidding me? Bill Clinton is gonna beat George Bush? Do you know what the GDP of Arkansas is?'" The Romney family bus, parked nearby, cut on its engine with a throaty roar. "And then he went out and kicked our butts."
The Dish 