Couple that with some observations from Real Clear Politics' Sean Trende, who notes that -- just as Romney can't win with his current levels of Hispanic support -- Obama can't win with his current levels of white support. Trende argues that if Romney is able to win over the white voters that Obama has lost, he can still win -- even if he wins only the same percentage of the minority vote that McCain garnered.
So how does Romney do that? Through winning a battle of ideas. The President currently has nothing new. But it's not enough to point that out. Voters, white and minority alike, want to see that Romney has a roadmap and a plan -- and that although he himself has not struggled financially, that doesn't mean he can't understand the problem of those that do.
Ted Kennedy was rich all his life (and unlike Kennedy, Romney inherited none of the fortune he currently enjoys -- he earned it). Yet Kennedy was supposed to be able to sympathize with the plight of the poor -- all because he was willing to spend your tax money to "help" them. How about a new kind of rich Massachusetts politician -- one who's willing to stand up for "little guys" who (like Romney himself) are willing and eager to work for what they get, rather than simply having it handed to them by a rich father or a bloated government?
That's a message that has resonance across racial (and every other variety of) lines..