If "personnel is policy," Mitt Romney has serious problems

Conservatives clearly have reason to worry about Mitt Romney’s staffing decisions. The notion that we have a presidential campaign being run out of Boston has always seemed odd to me. But putting that petty, if symbolic, geographical bias aside, Romney seems to have intentionally promoted staffers who are largely unknown — and in some cases hostile — to the conservative movement.

Ann Coulter says Romney ought to fire spokesperson Andrea Saul, but a better question is: Why did he hire her in the first place? Saul’s last job was working for Charlie Crist. In that capacity she publicly said this: “Marco Rubio is a wheeling and dealing Miami lobbyist and politician, always trying to scam the system for his personal benefit.”

That’s not change I can believe in. This must be fixed — and not by changing the subject. While picking Rep. Paul Ryan might symbolically assuage conservative concerns (whereas someone like Sen. Rob Portman might inflame this situation), staffers might actually be more influential in a White House.