Today, during a taping of Live! with Kelly and Michael that will air Tuesday, Mitt Romney made an obvious play for a vote. Whose? Snooki's. Why? Snooki is the ultimate swing voter. 

Romney said, according to the Associated Press: 

"I'm kind of a Snooki fan," Romney confessed. "Look how tiny's she's gotten. She's lost weight. She's energetic. Just her spark-plug personality is kind of fun."

Even though we have to think, Really? He's going to comment on her weight? we understand why he might want Snooki's support. She has demonstrated Republican leanings in the past. She voted for McCain in 2008, and has had a rapport with the ex-presidential candidate about her frustration over Obama's tanning-bed tax. She's also socialized with Newt and Callista Gingrich. That said, she's fickle. Angry at Chris Christie's Jersey Shore badmouthing, she explained that she'll "stick w Obama" as opposed to voting for the New Jersey governor. Furthermore, she's a Mother Jones reader — allegedly.

Snooki, something of a mess of stereotypes herself, fits the stereotype of the undecided voter. As Beth Reinhard of the National Journal put it: "younger, female, and clueless about politics." While we're not ruling out the possibility Snooki might be more politically savvy than she'd have us believe, her M.O. is playing the "clueless" angle for laughs. In addition to telling Meghan McCain in a 2010 interview for The Daily Beast that she voted for her father because "he was really cute and I liked when he did his speeches," she explained: 

To be honest with you, I’m not really a Republican or a Democrat. I actually signed up as an independent, just because I don’t want to pick any side and also I don’t really know a lot about politics. I only know politics about, like, you know, tanning and being a Guidette.

Perhaps Romney thinks in appealing to Snooki he's appealing to a key demographic, or maybe he simply wants to regain the MTV vote he (presumably) lost when Nicki Minaj put to rest the rumors that she was supporting him. Regardless of the intent behind the comment, Romney may have a tough time winning the state Snooki's most commonly associated with: A new poll shows Obama up by 14 points among likely voters in New Jersey.  

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Esther Zuckerman