The Romney endorsement tour of Barack Obama’s policies continued Monday.

The Romney lines of harsh criticism over the president’s handling of the war in Afghanistan, which have persisted throughout the campaign, got a big “Never Mind!” from candidate Romney.

Mitt’s new Afghanistan position virtually mirrors the president’s policy.

After ignoring the nation’s longest war and omitting soldiers from his convention speech, Mitt Romney is on a desperate, last minute, race to the center.

Where did this change come from?

Why is Mitt Romney, the severely Conservative candidate for president, all of a sudden moving to the middle?

Has he had a change of heart?

No. Politico is reporting that the big change in Mitt’s approach is that his family has interceded on campaign strategy, arguing that his Game Changing Moment is to break with the right publically and moderate his rhetoric.

Thus, the October Surprise at the debate. From the lie about his plan for covering people with pre-existing coverage (his campaign had to knock that one back after the debate) to the denial of his tax plan Mitt Romney basically said “Never Mind!” to his entire campaign.

Earlier this year he chastised Obama for not learning the “lesson of Wisconsin” and wanting more teachers. This spring in Philadelphia, Romney called for bigger class sizes, not more teachers. But in Denver Romney was all about hiring more teachers (even if he wants to fire Elmo).

Like Romney said during the primary debates “I’m running for office for Pete’s sake”. This time the Tea Partiers were silent because they could smell the stench of defeat from his campaign. At this point they will take Romney’s betrayal lying down.

The only question is: can he get away with it? Romney tried it against Ted Kennedy, and lost. He tried it again and became a failed, one-term Governor of Massachusetts.

The bottom line is that Mitt Romney’s family appears to have convinced the patriarch to say whatever it takes to get elected. Even if it contradicts everything he has said in this election to date.

With four weeks left, two presidential debates and a vice presidential debate it will be tough to deny everything the Romney/Ryan campaign has proposed.

But Mitt Romney is going to win or lose based on his ability to (literally!) make it up as he goes along for the next four weeks. And he has to hope that Paul Ryan is as willing to run to the center as W. Mitt Romney is.

About Bill Buck

Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.