I totally get what Romney is doing before Super Tuesday.  Any candidate running for their party’s presidential nomination has to appeal to their base before they can begin focusing on winning the general election. Unfortunately for Republicans, some of the current GOP presidential candidates don’t seem to get that the way to win the base in 2012 isn’t social conservatism, and that swinging hard to the right on issues a) won’t fire up Republicans, b) risks alienating moderate and independent voters, and c) ultimately weakens any candidate against Obama by handing Democrats ‘flip-flopper’ to use as a weapon.

The majority of voters who will ultimately decide who will win the White House have yet to start paying attention, but you can bet they will be turned off by a candidate with a reputation for lacking conviction. Everybody knows the “flip-flopper” label is a weakness for Governor Romney. Here’s some advice on how he should fight it.

Governor Romney should play to his strengths, and being a social conservative simply is not one. Despite his clear opposition to same-sex marriage (for the record, Log Cabin Republicans and I personally strongly disagree with his position), the leaders of the fading social conservative movement consistently reject him in favor of candidates like Rick Santorum. No matter how many conference calls the governor participates in or the pledges he signs, he will never be able to appease the professional religious right while remaining true to his more mainstream positions in favor of nondiscrimination. Romney won’t win these voters by out-flanking Santorum and Gingrich on social issues – but like gay and lesbian Americans, evangelicals are not single issue voters, either, and what matters in 2012 is the economy.

Governor Romney’s strengths lie in his record as a successful businessman, his status as the lone GOP candidate with executive experience as a governor, and yes, in his perception as the electable Republican in the race.  Even attendees who participated in the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll recognized Romney is the best of the bunch to take on President Obama.  What some primary voters deride as moderate, general election voters see as mainstream.

Romney can win his base by coming out swinging against Obama’s actions during the economic downturn, like the bailouts of companies too big to fail. Romney understands failure happens in a free market, and free markets, rather than government intervention, are the path to prosperity.

Romney can win his base by talking about how nobody is better suited to attack Obama-care than somebody who has seen it tried in the laboratory of the states, as the Founders intended, and seen its failures.

Most of all, Romney can win his base by remembering that the TEA Party stands for “taxed enough already” – but not if he acts like the Tea Party was more about beverages after church and at exclusively heterosexual wedding receptions.

Gay or straight, evangelical or atheist, even Republican or Democrat, voters in the 2012 general electorate are looking for solutions to the economy. They want to hear a plan from a credible source for creating a real job-creation climate. Many voters don’t care about gay marriage.

Governor Romney can win the general – but only if he abandons the hopeless effort to out-social con the social cons.  Be yourself, Mitt. As I told you at CPAC, stick to what Americans care about; the economy and jobs.  It’s time to get down to business.