“Republicans still want to win, so they will defer to Romney where it makes sense.”
“Republicans really want to defeat President Obama—perhaps so badly that they’ll even pretend that they like Romney!”
“The GOP congressional leadership will fall in line behind Romney. The conservative activists in the Republican caucus, not so much. Mitt Romney just isn’t their cup of tea.”
“These congressional guys can’t reach agreement on what to order at dinner—never mind a vision for the country and a policy approach.”
Not very much
“They will be two ships in the night, and they will studiously ignore one another. Both are afraid of the other one’s brand.”
“House Republicans may want the White House back, but they will think about their own reelection first.”
“No one can control the House Republicans. Tea party House members and the GOP leadership will continue to have dysfunctional conflicts.”
“Romney doesn’t have strong roots with congressional Republicans. In addition, he will need to move more toward the middle for the general election, while they will want to keep [to the] right flank.”
“Romney is already running against Washington and the near-single-digit-approval-rated Congress. Neither side is going to show the other much love in the coming months.”
“Mitch McConnell is not going to be taking his direction from a onetime governor of Massachusetts.”
“Have you met the House freshman class?”
“Are you kidding me? They don’t even defer to their speaker!”
Once there is a presumptive Republican presidential nominee, how significantly will congressional Republicans defer to him in shaping legislative strategy?
Republicans (102 votes)
A great deal: 9%
Somewhat: 56%
Not very much: 35%
A great deal
“They can’t get anything done, anyway; why not play ball with the guy who will get all the press?”
Somewhat
“At times, House GOPers live in their own world. But having to run in November will give them reason to work with Romney and leave crazy behind, at least for a while.”
“Unless we hit the debt ceiling in October, after the payroll-tax fight, it will all be for show.”
“Boehner and McConnell will be helpful, but only God knows about the tea partiers.”
“Leadership will try, but they are driven by tea partiers who won’t care, and Romney will want to distance himself a bit from their lackluster record.”
“Romney will win and he’ll be relatively weak, so Congress is not likely to pay much attention to him until he has a sustained lead over Obama.”
“Congressional Republicans will do what they have to do to keep the House and win the Senate, and if that is consistent with Romney, great. But if it isn’t, that’s the way it goes.”
“We’ve got some folks on our side with a strong independent streak.”
Not very much
“The fiasco at the end of the year shows that the House is marching to the beat of their own drummer, and it’s going to hurt everyone.”
“Rarely has the Congress deferred to a nominee or the president on legislative strategy. And, as usual, they will be 100 percent focused on their own self-preservation.”
“I think Romney will shy away from getting involved in congressional fights, which is smart. If House Republicans won’t listen to their own speaker, they sure won’t listen to anyone else—even their nominee.”
“With low congressional job-approval numbers, everyone will be all out for themselves.”
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This article appears in the Jan. 21, 2012, edition of National Journal.
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