Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who is seen as one of the leading GOP candidates for the 2012 Presidential nomination, is having difficulties on his book tour because of Tea Party people who denounce the Massachusetts health care reform enacted in 2006 as too much like the Health Care reform just passed in Congress and signed by President Obama.
Romney has been attacking the process of enactment of the federal legislation more than the substance, as people in Massachusetts are also required to buy health care or face penalties. Also, small businesses are required to provide coverage or face penalties, and taxes have gone up to implement the plan.
This has put Romney on the defensive, and makes his future candidacy much more vulnerable in a time of Tea Party activism. This complicates any potential candidacy, although Romney makes clear he has not decided whether to run for President in 2012.
With the reality of this ugly mood spreading in the Republican party, which is being greatly influenced by the Tea Party movement, and with the fact that, as a Mormon, Romney faces the prejudice of many Christians, particularly evangelicals, who think of Mormonism as a cult, Romney’s path to the nomination has been greatly compromised!