"Mitt Romney, you're no Tom Paine," youth are likely to declare

After Mitt Romney's gaffe this morning on CNN ("I'm not concerned about the very poor"), I think the former Bay State governor will have a tough time selling the populism of his Florida victory speech last night to younger voters.

In whatever context, you can't express apathy (or antipathy?) towards those hit the hardest financially, win Wall Street's money handily over the other candidates and embrace the multi-million/billion dollar class, and then honestly quote the radical populist-revolutionary-Common Sense scribe Thomas Paine. Or expect to win young voters hungry for a populist - but not necessarily progressive - president who will deliver economic reform.

Thanks to an excellent course I enrolled in recently, I know a thing or two about Paine, and he would not be a Romneynite. For Paine, a political gadfly who challenged mainstream Church dictates and religious doctrine, believed in economic equity, first and foremost.

Now, we're all wondering if the presumptive Republican nominee can galvanize a youthful conservative base....and if he can court as well as compete with Obama for the youth vote come November.

Most of the data, relative to trends of the youth vote, are no less skeptical than I am today...although today's news is coloring my perception quite heartily, at the moment.

I do believe, based on Romney's comment and his defense of it, that Paul will further monopolize young voters in the upcoming primary and caucus states. Wesley, perhaps Romney will recover beyond Nevada and Maine, but his words today stung most young voters - something I report from social media as well as conversations with sources on the ground. 

I dare say, cautiously, Romney could not have delivered a worse performance after his first 18-29 bracket win in Florida. So I'll pose my question: Might Romney not garner millennial votes by the same margin he did in Florida for the foreseeable future?