At Commentary’s “contentions” blog, Jennifer Rubin notices that the latest SurveyUSA poll shows Sen. John McCain ahead of Mitt Romney among voters who say the economy is the number one issue by a “startling” 37%-25% margin, which she calls “counterintuitive.”  Rubin then quotes new lines from Romney’s speech today at the Latin Builders Association:

I’ve had settings where I’ve had to lay people off. It’s an awful feeling. No one likes laying someone off . . . Someone who thinks that you’re a bad person if you lay someone off doesn’t understand. You feel bad. Its probably the hardest thing I’ve done in business.

Rubin then asks:

Could it be that Romney comes across too corporate or too upscale and is now attempting a slight course correction? There is some evidence this is a problem for him.

This does not appear to be sarcasm on Rubin’s part, despite the fact that Romney was the target of perhaps the most memorable zinger of the GOP campaign — Mike Huckabee’s remark that “Maybe people want a president who looks like the guy you work with and not the guy who laid you off.”  Or, as noted here yesterday, like a luxury car salesman.

I have to wonder whether this is the same Jennifer Rubin who badly second-guessed the impact of her own story about cheap delegates in California over at the American Spectator’s blog.  Regardless, to her credit, Rubin does catch the early voting factor and offers a prediction that seems dead-on:

Hopefully, he won’t resort to tears, but I do expect more ” I feel your pain” moments before Tuesday.

Indeed.  Call it “The Mitt I Know” project.

Romney can take some comfort in the fact that his Florida debate performance appears to have been a hit on Mars.

Update:  In the comments, edward cropper suggested that Rubin is “in the tank” for Maverick.  I confess to not being a scholar of her past work, but Dan Riehl notes that Commentary seems to like McCain and suggests that Rubin’s piece reflects that.  So this may be another example of sarcasm not translating for the general reader on the Internet.