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Mitt Romney’s February to-do list

After his resounding 15-point victory in Florida, Mitt Romney has taken a giant leap toward securing the Republican presidential nomination.

The nomination is now Romney’s to lose as he heads into February and some very friendly turf in upcoming contests in Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and his native Michigan.

But Romney won’t be able to coast. If he is to wrap up the battle for the nomination in a position of strength by Super Tuesday (and that is the goal of his campaign), he will need to accomplish all of the items on his hefty to-do list.

1. Assuage conservatives: Newt Gingrich likes to refer to Romney as a “Massachusetts moderate” or a “Massachusetts liberal,” in an effort to sow real disenchantment with Romney among very conservative Republican voters. Despite Romney’s sweeping victory, 41 percent of Florida GOP primary voters said Romney is not conservative enough on the issues, according to the exit poll conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the Associated Press and the five television networks.

2. Boost his favorability: The intensified and, at times, brutally negative Republican nomination battle has taken its toll on Romney’s standing with voters. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week, Romney had his highest unfavorable ratings ever recorded. Of those polled, 49 percent viewed him unfavorably compared to only 31 percent who viewed him favorably. If Romney doesn’t reverse this trend soon, he’ll have a much deeper hole to climb out of when the general election begins in earnest.

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