Romney tries to overcome inconsistencies

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It's a case McCain and Giuliani likely will try to make as well, even though they also have inconsistencies in their records that have generated criticism.

Making a Ronald Reagan connection
Romney, for his part, has spent weeks trying to defend his changes of heart and soothe the concerns of conservatives who question his steadfastness on their core issues.

"I wasn't always a Ronald Reagan conservative. Neither was Ronald Reagan, by the way," he told a conservative gathering in Sea Island, Ga., in early January. "Perhaps some in this room have had the opportunity to listen, learn and benefit from life's experience — and to grow in wisdom, as I have."

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A few days later, Romney tried a stronger statement after video from a 1994 debate with Kennedy surfaced. He said: "Of course, I was wrong on some issues back then. I'm not embarrassed to admit that. I think most of us learn with experience. I know I certainly have."

Previous presidential candidates have tried to weather contradictions in their votes and quotes as opponents sought to portray them as equivocating. The charge speaks to a person's credibility and character, raising questions of whether a person takes certain stances because of political expediency instead of core beliefs, and whether they can be trusted.

President Bush seriously wounded Democratic nominee John Kerry's campaign in 2004 by portraying the Massachusetts senator as a flip-flopping liberal. Four years earlier, Bush cast Al Gore as inconsistent on positions like the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve and an exaggerator on other matters.

"At the end of the day people want to vote for who they trust, and that's why Bush's message — you might not always agree with me, but you know where I stand — has been so effective," said Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic strategist who was Kerry's campaign communications director.

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