[Posted by Karl]

If you are reading a political blog like this, the odds are you are a political junkie.  Conversely, if you are reading this, you are probably not a casual voter.  The discussion at political blogs is geared to the intensely interested, while campaigns ultimately want to win the casual voter. 

Accordingly, political junkies might do well to look at what the casual voter knows or wants to know about the candidates.  One easy way of looking at this is as close as your nearest auto-completing search engine.  Here is what happens if you search for current GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney:

Those results may not surprise you, but note that Bain Capital is not among them, suggesting it is not yet part of the zeitgeist.  However, the fact that Mitt Romney’s net worth is already a common topic suggests the Bain issue could enter these charts with a bullet. (more…)