Charisma vs. Substance/ "Mitt Romney is Bill Clinton With His Pants UP!"

Update (2/17): Eric responds.  Thinks I missed his point. 

Eric Earling, my frequent political sparring opponent and contributor at Sound Politics is a supporter of Mitt Romney for President.  Our main beef with each other has always been over the purpose and what ought to be the direction of the Repbublican Party; principle vs. what is considered "politically viable".  Any guesses as to which side of the debate I'm on?

Anyway, it was no surprise that Eric would endorse one of the three candidates that most conservative activists find unnacceptable, but are considered the "viable ones" or the "frontrunners" by the "experts".  Nevertheless, I found this post of his rather telling, where he linked to an article in The Politico that was written by a liberal who is "smitten with Mitt TV" (inspite of his admitted confusion over where he stands on the issues) and described Mitt Romney as "Bill Clinton with his pants up."  Eric says, "I doubt Romney himself would embrace that comparison, but it made me laugh."  It's hard to tell whether Eric sees that comparison as a good thing or not though.  He argues that "the topic of the column is of interest" because "candidates with charisma are much preferred in the era of the 24-hour news cycle.  Romney and Rudy Giuliani seem like the only Republicans that fit such a description right now in this writer's eyes."

"Candidates with charisma are much preferred in the era of the 24-hour news cycle"?  Then why are women in particular, who are supposedly the ones succeptable to this Bill Clinton style charisma, turning off the morning fluff and tuning into the blogosphere and other forms of the "new media"?  You'd think that a contributor to one of the most oft-read political blogs in the sphere, certainly the leading one in the great northwest, would be seeking to offer substance over charisma, not the other way around.

Update: Another "Erick" and Romney supporter has now "given up on 'multiple choice Mitt" and announces at REDSTATE, "His campaign and the potential for his nomination has 'jumped the shark'."