Ann Romney: the Romney the Obama campaign feared most

Ann Romney's emergence as one of Mitt Romney's most effective campaign surrogates in 2012 reflected a recognition within the Republican campaign that she possessed qualities her husband demonstrably lacked—natural warmth, an ability to humanize a candidate whom voters found difficult to connect with personally, and a biographical story of health challenges and family devotion that resonated with audiences who were skeptical of Romney's corporate biography.

Ann Romney had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998 and breast cancer in 2008. Her public discussion of these experiences—handled with composure rather than performance of suffering—gave her credibility on healthcare issues while personalizing the Romney family's experience with exactly the kind of medical challenges that the Affordable Care Act debate was supposed to address.

Her popularity was widely seen as an asset the Obama campaign could not easily neutralize. In an election where Mitt Romney struggled with favorability numbers that seemed stubbornly resistant to his campaign's efforts to improve them, his wife's natural likability represented a genuine asset that could not be programmed or coached.

Her Republican National Convention speech was designed to address the "likability gap" directly—to show voters a version of Mitt Romney that the formal campaign settings had consistently failed to convey. Reviews from both supporters and neutral observers found it more successful than most of what the convention produced.

The Obama campaign's own counter was Michelle Obama, whose approval ratings were consistently strong and whose convention speech was widely praised.

Romney lost the election. Ann Romney's considerable campaign contributions could not fully compensate for structural disadvantages—including an economy that, while weak, was not weak enough to override the incumbent's personal popularity.