Or “Innovative Conservatism”, in J-Ger’s parlance - could that serve as Mitt Romney’s trampoline to the GOP nomination?

An adviser to one of Romney’s rivals told me this morning….that he doesn’t understand the Romney strategy: “I’m not a huge fan of what Romney did in Massachusetts, but it was successful enough to be the foundation of a his message: I’m Mr. Fix-It, I’m the the can-do, get-it-done governor.”

It’s a shame that President Bush left the term “compassionate conservatism” a punchline, because Romney could take his record of accomplishments in Massachusetts and package them as something like “Innovative Conservatism” — i.e., “I solved the health care crisis, got every resident health insurance, and took that issue off the table from the Democrats. I balanced the budget, every year. I rewarded good students by providing the top 25% a full-ride scholarship for four years to state universities - big incentive, big reward, big results. You look down the list of common-sense conservative goals that have been hindered and held back for years - national tort reform, stopping illegal immigration, entitlement reform, eliminating earmarks, tax simplification and reform - I’m the guy who can get that done. If I can get common sense initiatives through a legislature controlled by Massachusetts Democrats, I can get common sense initiatives through Congress.”

Three - no, four problems with that idea, as I see it:

1) Selling your success at compromising with overwhelmingly Donk legislatures probably isn’t the best thing to highlight to a Republican nominating electorate;

2) Rudy Giuliani is already squatting on that ground;

3) Larry The Cable Guy has probably already copywrited “Git-er-done”;

4) The track record of ex-Massachusetts governors who downplay ideology in favor of practical, nuts & bolts governance isn’t all that stellar.