What Romney Needs to do to Win (according to Karl Rove)

Craig Unger writes:

In late April, Rove’s electoral map had forecast an Obama victory, but in his May 24 Wall Street Journal column, “Romney’s Roads to the White House,” Rove took another look at what might happen on the first Tuesday in November.

Mapping out a “3-2-1” strategy for Romney, Rove itemized what was necessary for Romney to win. All he had to do was take three states—Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia—that John McCain had narrowly lost in 2008; recapture two big battleground states that Bush had won in 2004, Florida and Ohio; and, finally, win one, just one, additional state in the union, anywhere. It was more than just possible, Rove concluded. Now it was probable. “Mr. Obama long ago lost his chance to duplicate his 2008 performance,” he wrote. “He’s now forced to fight for states he easily won in 2008. The odds now narrowly favor a Romney win.”