Mitt Romney is shifting to the center to attract important voting blocs that he may have alienated in the bruising Republican presidential primary.

Romney has recently sought to ingratiate himself with voters in industry-heavy Ohio, women, Hispanics and college students by softening his tone on a range of issues.

“Romney is starting to shift to the center. He knows he needs to get independent voters in November and if he doesn’t he’s going to lose,” said Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution…

“Here’s the situation they find themselves in. Policy is politics and they have much ground to make up among first and second time voters, Hispanics, working-class whites, working-class women. They have to move away from the policy positions they felt they had to take to secure the 2008 nomination and the even more extreme positions they took to win the 2012 nomination,” said John Weaver, a political consultant who worked on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns.