"A great quality that he has, that didn't serve him well in the last campaign, was answering every question asked," said Ron Kaufman, a veteran Washington lobbyist and an ardent Romney promoter. "He's so smart that if you ask him about some nuance regarding health care, his brain will give you a thoughtful and possibly arcane answer. But you don't have to do that. You can answer the question the way you want to.

"Ronald Reagan was great at that, the big-picture things," added Kaufman, a top national Republican Party official in the 1980s. "Does anyone in this country think Ronald Reagan went down into the weeds of the issues? But the voters knew where he was going."

Where, exactly, is Romney going? And is he comfortable walking around in his own skin?

Romney's biggest problem in 2012 may not be health care, his religion, or his about-face on abortion--but authenticity.

In 2008, it wasn't until onetime front-runner John McCain was down and nearly out that he sealed the deal with the GOP faithful. In contrast, the well-heeled Romney never broke through. A moderate Republican who thrived in the true-blue state of Massachusetts, Romney tried to remake himself as a conservative crusader and came off as a phony.

"No one questions his CEO abilities, but last time, he dove so far to the right trying to appeal to Christian conservatives that he became almost a caricature of himself," said Iowa power broker Doug Gross, who led Romney's campaign in that state in 2008 but hasn't jumped aboard this time. "I think a number of people are skeptical of his ability to connect with the average voter."

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Expectations were running high last month when Romney strode onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington to the cheers of thousands of grassroots activists. It was a homecoming of sorts. If Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, would win "Most Popular" at the three-day event dominated by the Young Republican set, the well-coiffed Romney would be elected "Most Likely to Succeed." He has topped CPAC's straw poll three times and came in second this year, behind Paul. In February 2008, Romney chose the gathering to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race.

So on this Friday morning, Romney was at ease in his dark suit and rose-colored tie. The setting felt like a family affair, with his wife, Ann, introducing him this way: "I, for one, would like to see him lead the country as president of the United States."

The line went over well in the packed ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel, and Romney seemed to enjoy delivering his 17-minute speech. His timing was good; the audience clapped and chuckled in all the right spots.

"It's going to take a lot more than new rhetoric to put Americans back to work. It's going to take a new president," he said. "Let me make this very clear: If I were to decide to run for president, it sure wouldn't take me two years to wake up to the jobs crisis threatening America. And I wouldn't be asking [Treasury Secretary] Timothy Geithner how the economy works, or [former Obama adviser] Larry Summers how to start a business. I know."