Lance Mannion believes that politicians who have run in smaller political races have a skill advantage over those who haven't:
You get out there and you shake as many hands, kiss as many babies, ring as many doorbells as there are minutes in the day every day. Ideally, before the campaign's over you'll have met every voter and asked them for their vote personally.
Of course the higher up the ladder, the larger the constituency, and the more that ideal becomes an impossibility. So you're forced to do a lot of it by proxy. Instead of meeting voters one at a time, you meet them in crowds. Instead of showing up on their doorsteps, you show up on their TVs and computer screens and mobile devices. You spend more time with big donors than with small business owners. And what used to be a matter of just doing your job, going out to listen to constituents tell you their troubles and ask for your help, becomes a photo op. If you worked your way up the political ladder, and you know what's good for you, you remember what the point was and you keep in mind who deserves your attention when you're out on the stump. And when you stop standing in front of the crowd and dive into it instead, all the old skills come back.
He says Obama, who campaigned at both the community and state senate level, has Romney beat in this regard:
[Romney] clearly doesn't know instinctively what to do when he has to deal with voters one to one. He's awkward and uncomfortable and prone to gaffes. I don't mean what the press corps would prefer to call gaffes, all his deliberate and calculated lies. I mean what happens when his apparently instinctive goofiness gets the better of him. He says and does stupid things, like forgetting to thank the owners of a diner he's taken over and trashed for a photo op. In another mood, in another post, making a different point I'd probably say this is a sign that he's an arrogant elitist who can't be bothered to muster up ordinary sympathy for the Help. And maybe it is or it's part of it. … I am, however, pretty sure that much of it is simply lack of practice.
(Photo: Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign stop at Saint Anselm College on August 20, 2012 in Manchester, New Hampshire. By John Moore/Getty Images)
The Dish 