7:32 am ET

I’m befuddled by how often Romney principals, surrogates, strategists, and spokespeople show up for TV appearances and press briefings without any apparent message they wish to drive.

Particularly during a relatively newsless convention week, the media is entirely susceptible to reporting whatever is spoon fed our way. And yet despite numerous briefings and TV hits, I rarely was able to discern a strategic message with the mere dollop of news required to drive the cycle.

The latest example: Ann Romney’s Friday morning show appearances. She was smart, funny, supportive, and charming as ever, but based on my flipping around and catching a lot of what she said, I couldn’t see any evidence that Boston had a plan to drive morning headlines in any specific direction.

To be sure, the Obama campaign folks are often just as defensive and reactive in such appearances, but the Romney campaign apparently either doesn’t care about exploiting such moments, or doesn’t have the mechanisms in place to get it done.