“People, I think, are looking for more visceral, gut issues. Mitt Romney doesn’t make that appeal,” said New York Rep. Pete King, who is neutral in the GOP primary. “His record in the past on health care and gay rights, obviously, are the opposite of where most Republicans are.”…

What’s so striking, though, is that Romney is still hitting a ceiling within his own party even though his record on health care, the environment, and his multiple reversals on abortion and gay rights have not been dominant issues in the 2012 race, as they were when he ran four years ago. Neither had his Mormon faith, at least not until Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress blasted it as a “cult” during a recent conservative conference in Washington…

Only in New Hampshire, where Romney owns a home and has spent the bulk of his early-state campaign time, has he posted more formidable poll numbers, reaching into the high 30- and low 40-percent range.

All that appears to leave Romney exceptionally vulnerable, either to an unforced error or gaffe of his own, or to a multimillion-dollar barrage of negative advertising that spotlights his political liabilities.