After Mark Robinson announced for governor, he led Josh Stein in polls. Then Stein pulled even. Then Robinson trailed by five. In a poll last week Robinson trailed by fourteen.

Some folks say the problem’s Robinson’s stand on abortion. And, yes, that could hurt him. But when Congressman George Holding got attacked by Democrats for opposing abortion he laid the cards on the table, explained because of his religious faith he believed a fetus was an innocent life and taking an innocent life was wrong.

A lot of people didn’t agree – but they understood. George won reelection.

So the roots of Robinson’s problem probably run deeper than abortion.

One of ten children Mark Robinson grew up poor; his father died when he was a boy. A born showman he rolled into internet politics where melodrama and controversy got him attention. Running for governor he posted videos of himself on Twitter making speeches, often sounding indignant, angry, hurling insults.

In one video striding across a stage in a church he growled ‘some folks need killing;’ in another barked ‘I got them AR-15s in case government gets too big for their britches, cause I’m going to fill the backside of them britches with some lead;’ strutting in another roared ‘go into battle and take the head of your enemy in God’s name.’

In Josh Stein’s first ad all he did was play videos of Robinson talking, ending with Robinson snapping ‘abortion in this country’s not about protecting the lives of mothers – it’s about killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.’

People are seeing those videos on TV, Facebook, and Twitter and when they hear Robinson they don’t like him. Trust flies out the window – and that’s the heart of Robinson’s problem.