“Bye-bye, nomination,” Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday on his radio talk show after playing a clip of Romney’s climate remark. “Another one down. We’re in the midst here of discovering that this is all a hoax. The last year has established that the whole premise of man-made global warming is a hoax and we still have presidential candidates that want to buy into it.”…

The episode suggests that Romney and his team, trying to market the candidate as authentic, see more of a political benefit by sticking with his position and taking heat than by shifting to win over a crucial segment of the conservative base.

“The fact that he doesn’t change his position . . . that’s the upside for us,” said one Romney adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the campaign. “He’s not going to change his mind on these issues to put his finger in the wind for what scores points with these parts of the party.”