Perhaps last month’s front-page, fact-packed, 1000-word story about Mitt Romney’s hair, from The New York Times’s Michael Barbaro and Ashley Parker, struck you—as it did us (and apparently Slate, which has nominated it as one of the dumbest news stories of the year) as a little too voluminous for its subject.
But, then again, maybe Romney’s naturally buoyant, mousse, gel, and purportedly dye-free mane (cut for a mere $70 when Romney doesn’t give it a trim himself) really does matter to the electorate.
Per Shushannah Walshe’s story about a focus group of young voters in Iowa at ABC’s The Note blog:
He then asked if anyone liked Romney, which received a lukewarm at best, negative at worst reaction.
The former marine who was in Iraq during the last cycle and is now a student immediately responded, “I just can’t stop thinking about his hair.”The 26-year-old stay-at-home mom from Des Moines agreed.
“You can’t trust a guy with immaculate hair,” she said. “I don’t feel like I can trust him, he seems too smooth … I’ve heard something about businesses going bankrupt and all the people lost their jobs. I don’t know anything specific about it, but we are trying to get jobs.”
The Mormon thing seemed to bother them less. According to Walshe, none of them will even consider voting for Romney.
