Will Trump Help Or Hurt Wall Street Willie ?

Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) has started to pump some big money into Michigan (as has his super-PAC) in an effort to bring Rick Santorum back down to earth in that state. The idea is to spend enough money to hurt Santorum and buy the election -- like he did with Gingrich in Florida. So far, it's not really working. One poll, Public Policy Polling, shows the race has tightened by a couple of points -- but it has not reduced the popularity of Santorum (only added a couple of points to Romney), and Santorum still leads in Michigan. Here are those numbers:

Rick Santorum...............37%
Mitt Romney...............33%
Ron Paul...............15%
Newt Gingrich...............10%

So Romney has decided to call on his buddy (and fellow one-percenter) Donald Trump to come to Michigan to campaign for him -- and Trump has answered the call. He is going to do a round of interviews within the state attacking Santorum and praising Romney. In fact, Trump has already started. In a radio interview aired in Michigan he said, "There's nothing - there's no gift, no Christmas gift, that could be given better than Rick Santorum to the Democrats. Democrats are just salivating at that. And, you know, I don't think they believe it's going to happen. But boy, would they like it to happen because that would be an easy election."

Trump would like for people to believe that Romney would be a much stronger candidate against President Obama, but I don't think that's true anymore. A year ago most Democrats probably believed that, but that was before all of Romney's gaffes, his tax returns, his money hidden in the Cayman Islands, and his destroying of jobs through Bain Capital was know. Romney has become little more than the poster boy for Wall Street greed and excess (which is why I call him Wall Street Willie).

While Wall Street is again making tons of money, Main Street is not. And the folks on Main Street have not forgotten the devastating economic ride they were taken on by the avarice of Wall Street, and they still haven't recovered from it. They're not about to vote for a Wall Street shill like Romney, and the Democrats know it.

Democrats may well be salivating at the thought of running against Santorum (or Gingrich or Paul), but no more than they're salivating at running against Wall Street Willie. Democrats would love the opportunity to run against Wall Street, and no one gives them that opportunity better than Romney does.

That's why I think it's a bit strange that Romney has called on Trump to help him in his campaign. With Trump actively campaigning for him, Romney is just more firmly identified as the candidate of Wall Street. That doesn't just hurt him with the general public, but also among the teabaggers and evangelicals who make up the majority of the Republican Party's base.

There is no evidence that Trump's endorsement has helped Romney at all -- not even among Republicans. The endorsement came too late to help in Nevada (a Romney stronghold), and it certainly didn't help in Missouri, Colorado, or Minnesota. In fact, a case can be made that the endorsement may have actually hurt Romney in those states. And Michigan is another state that was badly hurt by the recession triggered by Wall Street malfeasance.

Are they going to be impressed by a Wall Street mogul now? Is Trump going to help Romney win over Main Street Republicans? I don't think so. I think Trump just ties him closer to Wall Street, and that's not good with rank-and-file Republicans or the general public. It solidifies the view of Romney as Wall Street Willie.

Meanwhile, the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll shows Romney has dropped another two points nationally, and now trails Santorum by a full 10 points. The Gallup Poll (taken between February 15th and 19th) now shows the following numbers:

Rick Santorum...............36%
Mitt Romney...............26%
Newt Gingrich...............13%
Ron Paul...............11%