Mitt speaks human

Gawker, the American news gossip site, is very pleased with itself. They’ve hired a Fox News ‘mole’, and he or she has already given them their first scoop: off-air footage of Mitt Romney chatting away amicably with Fox News presenter Sean Hannity before an interview.

This is meant to be an insight into the sleazy world the American right, and inevitably the clip is going viral. But what Gawker and the mole might not realise is that they may have given the Romney campaign a surprise boost. I’ve seen many Romney interviews and speeches, far too many. But this is the only time I’ve seen him come across as a human being. Of course, his conversation is a little weird — there’ll be lots said about how talking of owning horses will upset middle Americans in a recession — and he still has the problem of that disconcertingly cheesy grin. But he seems genial and almost natural, which is new, and voters might like it.