Blake Zeff believes Romney is being forced to veer away from a more coherent campaign strategy – exactly the same way Hillary Clinton and McCain were in 2008:

[Clinton and McCain] both became so vexed by their inability to puncture [Obama's] positive image that they lost control of their campaigns against him. Frustrated with their inability to win a single news cycle, their strategy ultimately devolved into a simple determination to score points wherever possible, even when it put them at odds with their original strategy. With Hillary Clinton, a campaign based on superior experience turned to accusations of plagiarism and flip-flopping. In the case of John McCain, a campaign based on patriotism and straight talk came to revolve around a random encounter Obama had with a plumber about taxes (and, in the ultimate demonstration of their anything-to-break-through mentality, Sarah Palin). 

And now look at Romney, who set out in the general to focus voters' attention, with relentless intensity, on the lackluster economy. As a result of losing news cycle after news cycle, he's now throwing spaghetti, rigatoni, and fettuccine against the wall, and hoping something will stick. 

(Photo: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Van Dyck Park September 13, 2012 in Fairfax, Virginia. By Win McNamee/Getty Images)