Posted on 08/19/2007 8:35:07 PM PDT by restornu
DES MOINES, Iowa - Amid the sweaty crowds at Iowa's sweltering state fair recently, Mitt Romney was a sight to behold shaking hands and ambling toward the Iowa Pork Producers building.
Looking freshly scrubbed in his long-sleeve shirt and creased white trousers, the former Massachusetts governor drew gasps from throngs of reporters awaiting his arrival.
"The man must have no pores," marveled one sodden journalist.
"He can't be human."
Just another meaningless photo op in a presidential election off to a ridiculously early start. But it also encapsulates one of the biggest questions surrounding Romney, who is looking more and more likely to become the Republican presidential nominee:
Is this guy for real?
* * *
The 6-foot-2 multimillionaire is often described as "matinee-idol" handsome. Truth be told, with his angular, tan face, jutting chin, and temples graying just so, the 60-year-old Romney is more soap-opera handsome or game-show-host handsome.
Which is to say Romney's improbably good looks can be off-putting at a time when "authentic" is the new thing in politics.
"With that perfect hair and those bright white teeth, Mitt is exactly the kind of polished politician I'm tired of," said Mark Zlab, a Republican doctor outside of Des Moines. "People want a candidate they can trust to talk truth."
Well maybe, Dr. Zlab. But a lot of solid Iowa Republicans see Romney, a proven problem-solver in the private sector, as the antidote to Washington's problems.
Hours after Zlab dismissed him as a phony, Romney solidified his position as the front-runner in Iowa's crucial first-in-the-nation caucuses by handily winning the GOP presidential straw poll. Never mind that he more or less bought the win, spending at least $2-million, he won.
"Pleased as punch," declared Romney, who is worth about $200-million and actually sounds natural saying things like "gosh" and "pleased as punch."
* * *
You probably know little about Willard Mitt Romney, the wholesome Mormon who has been married 38 years and never in his life had a glass of wine, let alone a hangover.
Based on most polls of Republicans nationally, and in Florida, he's an also-ran rival to Rudy Giuliani and likely candidate Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator.
Forget that. Modern political history suggests Romney is the real front-runner. Gradually and methodically, he has built strong campaign organizations and comfortable poll leads where it really matters: Iowa and New Hampshire.
Winning the nomination is all about momentum. Success in those crucial states could catapult Romney to the top in the big contests that follow, South Carolina on Jan. 19 and Florida on Jan. 29.
Early on, Romney secured some of the best political operatives to be had in the Sunshine and Palmetto states, though he is showing little traction in the polls so far.
Unlike Giuliani, John McCain or Thompson, Romney is still unknown to most voters. Florida, where Romney has held 13 public campaign events compared with 200 in Iowa, is so big that poll numbers rarely move without significant TV advertising.
"We wanted to prove the point that when voters got to know Mitt Romney they liked him a lot," national campaign manager Beth Myers said of the heavy emphasis on Iowa and New Hampshire. "We focused laserlike on a couple states. I would not say we've played very hard in South Carolina or Florida yet at all."
His standing in Iowa and New Hampshire is partly due to him loaning his campaign $9-million from his personal fortune and spending more than $32-million in the first six months of the year. Giuliani has spent $17-million.
Still, those lead positions also are built on grass roots campaigning and are all the more impressive given the attacks Romney has taken for transforming from moderate Republican to social conservative as he began looking at a run for national office.
The man who once had undocumented Guatemalans cutting his lawn and praised the contributions of such workers to America's economy now campaigns as an immigration hard-liner. The Massachusetts candidate who promised to do more for gay rights than Ted Kennedy, who backed laws restricting gun ownership and firmly supported abortion rights, now casts himself as the strongest social conservative among the leading Republicans.
"Can't you just hear the Democratic convention if he's the nominee? Can't you hear the 30 speeches? 'He was here then, but he's here now. ... He said this then, but he says this now,' " said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, an underdog presidential candidate who argues Romney's inconsistent positions would doom him in the general election.
Romney repeatedly faces questions about his abortion evolution.
"In the public sphere that's probably my greatest mistake," he told a white-haired questioner in cinder block meeting room in Grundy Center, Iowa, the other day. "The prolife movement that I'm part of wants to change people's hearts and minds, and I'm one of those that got changed."
* * *
The one-term governor selling change does have a track record: a Republican who has won over liberals in deep blue Massachusetts; a product of the private sector who made millions turning around troubled companies like Staples and Domino's Pizza and who took over the 2002 Winter Olympics mired in scandal and debt and turned it into a success.
He understands 2008 will be a tough year for Republicans. In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Romney sounded more like a bridge-building general election candidate than red meat primary contender.
"There's a great commonality of concern in this country. People are very frustrated that Washington is unable to deal with the challenges we face or take advantage of our opportunities, and that concern has reached a crescendo," Romney said. "People are angry and want to see change. It's not Republican, it's not Democrat - it's Washington."
Romney campaigns as a Washington outsider, but the privileged son of former American Motors Corp. chairman George Romney is no political newcomer. His gregarious dad was a moderate governor of Michigan, and at 21 Mitt watched his father's formidable presidential candidacy crumble after saying he had been "brainwashed" into supporting the Vietnam war.
"Gotcha media was just getting going at that point, and there were a couple of campaigns that blew up over things that in retrospect seem awfully small," said Romney, noting that ultimately his father was proven right about American being misled about Vietnam.
Romney is a much more careful and usually predictable stump speaker than his father was. In small gatherings, the former governor sometimes responds to questions instead of people.
In small town Tama, in an area of the state shedding manufacturing jobs, an elderly woman said she worried about all the jobs heading overseas. Romney cheerfully offered that American productivity is rising and that he's a fighter for jobs.
Beneath that unflappable polish, though, come flashes of humanity, if not outright weirdness.
As when he named Battlefield Earth, by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as his favorite book. Or in Virginia when, for reasons unclear, he answered a question about nuclear power by noting that Adolf Hitler had pioneered liquefied coal.
Romney is still living down a vignette one of his five sons shared with a reporter about Dad strapping their late Irish setter, Seamus, in a carrier to the car roof for a cross-country drive.
Animal rights activists howled, but Romney made no apologies.
"They're not happy that my dog loves fresh air," Romney said.
I believe EV has stated he is for Alan Keyes. As a write in, I suppose, as Mr. Keyes is not running to my knowlege.
Write-in campaigns are not my thing.
Well, maybe it would be better to learn up a bit first, and then opine.
Waiting for EV to say who he is for, while he (all with the best conservative intentions), heaps calumny on all viable Republican candidates.
In the first place, I’d never heard of InTrade until 10 minutes ago, and still have never been to the site.
“Well, maybe it would be better to learn up a bit first, and then opine.”
Not necessary.
All I need to know is that 4.8% of the people there believe Ron Paul is going be the GOP Presidential nominee. That’s enough to tell me that whatever it is, approximately 4.8% of its members offering an opinion on the GOP nomination are:
A) delusional;
B) profoundly ill-informed; or
C) relatives of Ron Paul
We’ll see.
My “yardstick” is core conservative principle. The inalienable rights to life, liberty and private property. A record of consistent defense of the innocent unborn and opposition to the culture of death in all its forms. Seriousness about, and a proven track record in support of, fundamental tax reform. Opposition to the judicial activists/supremacists and a complete understanding of our founding documents and the principles that make them up. Recognition of the inviolable sovereignty of our borders and our territory. Unflinching commitment to the independence and security of America in the world. An understanding of the Second Amendment and an unwillingness to encroach on it in any way, shape or form. Etc.
Intrade is a futures market, not a poll. 4.8% represents the Intrade market's determination of the probability of Ron Paul winning the nomination. Go to the site, and check it out. It is quite interesting and informative.
He’s an arrogant Constitution hating freak. That’s his message.
Wow, a humble family man is “arrogant” and because he is misinformed about guns, he is “Constitution hating freak”. Need I say more?!
RE; Hunter’s message
I’ll give you the same answer the Mitt fans give me go look at his websites.
Saving your brain from replying to my post, the answer to your question, Romney's message is more conservative than Hunter's, no.
Truth; Romney did not win over the Massachusetts Liberals, he is a Massachusetts Liberal
When listening or reading what Mitt has said, remember these words, What, When, Where, Why, Who and How. Mitt never satisfies the How
Pick anyone of these visions and tell me what Mitt has said HOW he will make the vision, reality? IE What is the plan?
I’m still waiting to hear what Senator John Kerry’s “plan” was when he ran for President in ‘04! Senator Kerry would keep saying, “I’ve got a plan!”, and that’s it!
“What is Fred’s message?
Federalism. Return to basic Constitutional principles.
Or Duncan’s?
Illegal immigration, the emerging China threat, fair trade, war on terror”
That’s interesting — those are Romney’s messages too. The only difference is Romney’s more articulate and has a much more presidential presence.
“As when he named Battlefield Earth, by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as his favorite book. Or in Virginia when, for reasons unclear, he answered a question about nuclear power by noting that Adolf Hitler had pioneered liquefied coal.”
I am not going to lie, these two things concern me and I am going to have to look into this a bit more.
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