Note: this Daily Evolver was recorded the day before Rick Santorum dropped out of the campaign. Good thing we didn’t talk about him for a half hour instead of Romney. That could have been embarrassing.

In this week’s Daily Evolver we take a look at what could be the opening arguments for the 2012 presidential election. Although Mitt Romney has not won the Republican nomination yet (see above), his recent primary victories all but assure that he will lead his party in the 2012 Presidential campaign. President Obama also took to the air waves with his critique of the Paul Ryan Republican House budget proposal. It seems from his comments that he considers Romney to be the Republican candidate he will run against in November.

David and I first look at the current status of Romney’s campaign promises. I argue that Romney has an Integral view of the world, even though my lefty friends will strongly object (as I am sure we will see in the reaction to this dialogue!) If you look at Romney’s life, you see a straight shooter. No big scandals (yet), doesn’t drink, and seems like a reasonable guy. His family is a strong presence in the progressive wing of the Mormon Church. He believes in rules and fairness in managing his employees, and has been highly successful in the modern financial market—even though you could argue that Bain Capital did not actually create jobs, but instead created lots of increased revenue for its owners. And Romney, at various points in his career, has supported progressive positions in health care, gay rights, and gun control from a moderate Republican position.

All that being said, we also see that Romney has moved towards the more conservative wing of the Republican party during the primary season as he tries to convince the Tea Party that he is one of them. The question remains, is he just doing this to secure the Republican nomination, only to move back towards the center in the general election, or does his primary record suggest that he’s changed his stance on a number of important issues that will face the next president of the United States? I believe that we will see two reasonable visions for the future from Mitt Romney and President Obama during the national campaign. They will offer American voters a real choice of how they want to see this country proceed beyond 2012.

Lastly, David and I look at the impacts of the Super Pac money in the present and upcoming campaign and if one party does receive a mandate in 2012, whether that will contribute towards moving forward on the important issues of the day.

Listen to an excerpt below. The full audio is here on integrallife.com.

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