Mitt Romney eyes smaller footprint, later start for 2012

politico ^ | 11/18/10 4:38 PM EST | Kassie Hunt

[onyx]

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is letting donors know it’ll be a while before he looks to 2012 — and that any presidential campaign he builds will have a much smaller staff than in 2008.

“People are exhausted from the 2010 election, and they’re not anxious to begin right away with the next campaign,” Romney told 245 of his top financial supporters on a conference call Thursday, a Romney aide told POLITICO. His team organized the call to connect with top supporters following a busy 2010 season and discuss Romney’s political future.

Romney also told supporters that his organization will be “smaller in scale than our last effort.”

The rationale, as Romney explained it: In 2008, he was a little-known figure who had to spend millions on a large organization if he was to compete against Arizona Sen. John McCain for the Republican nomination. In that cycle, he announced an exploratory committee in January 2007 and officially announced a bid in February.

This time, January and February will come and go without an announcement, he told his supporters — and he can plan a leaner staff because he’s now a leading national Republican figure and needs a team that can hang on through a prolonged primary campaign amid a crowded GOP field.

Joining him on the call were top staffers certain to be part of any operation, however small, including Beth Myers, his 2008 campaign manager; Spencer Zwick, who was his finance director; Matt Rhoades, who runs his Free and Strong America PAC; and Eric Fehrnstrom, his longtime spokesman.

[Fred]

Hey, if he is good enough for MLK then he is good enough for me

[Sonny M]

McCain was a very tough campaigner who came behind from near bankruptcy.

That doesn't prove the point, it actually makes it worse....

Romney spent 25 to 30 million dollars and lost to a guy who was near bankruptcy.

If anything, that would make him a weaker campaigner then McCain.

I'll admit, I am not a Romney fan, but to be honest, I haven't settled on anyone yet, but Romney is not a viable candidate. If he couldn't win NH against McCain (who had a campaign that was going bankrupt) and while wasting millions and millions of dollars, his odds of winning a general election against Obama (who was a much stronger campaigner then McCain) are very very dim....

[ari-freedom]

“I’ll admit, I am not a Romney fan, but to be honest, I haven’t settled on anyone yet, but Romney is not a viable candidate. “

Of course not. But we have to be prepared for what he will do in the primary otherwise we will *not* have a conservative win the nomination.
Romney’s going to put a good fight. He has a good chance at winning all the RINO’s who wanted Castle in Delaware. He’s counting on all the conservatives and people like Huck to split the rest of the vote.
This is what worked for Mccain but he’s not going to be in the race next time. Romney will take his place as the RINO King and I don’t think he will even pretend to be a “conservative’s conservative.”

[ari-freedom]

“Romney spent 25 to 30 million dollars and lost to a guy who was near bankruptcy.
If anything, that would make him a weaker campaigner then McCain. “

McCain was well known for decades but Romney was coming out of nowhere. Romney also had to compete with Huckabee for the conservative vote while McCain went after the establishment RINO’s.

[Diogenesis]

Carpetbagger fascist Romney is a backstabber who threw Election2008
to Obama because Mitt was jilted.

Poor sport. Liberal RINO chameleon.

Has Team Romney apologized to America, the GOP, and Gov. Palin?

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

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Poor sport spoiler Romney attacks other GOP candidates:

Novak: "Fred Thompson drop-out rumors traced to Romney campaign"

Said Novak: "The rumors were traced in part to Mitt Romney's campaign,
trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson."

"Despite outspending his rivals by huge margins throughout the primaries,
(Mitt Romney, Carpetbagger UT,CA,MA,NH,Mexico) lost Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and California.
The only primaries he won were in Michigan, where Dad was governor; LDS states;
and a few states on Super Tuesday in which his California-obsessed rivals
couldn't spare the cash to advertise.
Only John Connolly in 1968 had a worse cash-to-delegates ratio.
And John McCain rightly did not like Romney's tactics during the primaries.
(W)hen (Romney's early leads) started slipping away, he resorted to unfair,
distorted, scorched-earth negative ads, betting that his opponents couldn't
afford to spend enough for the truth to catch up to his charges."
[Romney: A Mistake for McCain, 7/23/2008, Dick Morris]

[Caipirabob]

Mitt has a place in the GOP, forever speaking out over the failures of his socialist policies, particular the abysmal FAIL of Romneycare and the tyranny it has brought to MA citizens.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

How about starting in 2013, Mitt?

[Windflier]

I actually fear the Rinos and non-elected Republican elites more than the Rats concerning Sarah. They will play along for a while and try to appear conservative. When the situation gets critical, that’s when they stab you in the back, examples: Joe Miller and Christine O’Donnell.

When you're an up-and-coming hopeful in politics, your fate is pretty much in the hands of powerful backers and party honchos. Much less so, when you're an established power broker yourself, such as Sarah is. She has built herself into perhaps the most important and powerful person in the Republican party.

Sarah will be far less reliant on the party establishment, than a newcomer would be, so there won't be as much chance of her being betrayed by any of them.

[Windflier]

Someone that everyone will take seriously even if they disagree...

Hmm....maybe someone like that old guy who made a movie with that chimp. You know, the warmongering, right-wing extremist nutjob from California.....what was his name?

Yeah, everyone took him seriously.

[Windflier]

Don’t be talking in public about the decoder ring. ;)

Oops....sorry. I thought I had activated the cone of silence. Won't happen again .. ;-)

[mrsmith]

Could he win a Senate seat in Massachusetts?
If not then he should run for the House in a suitable district.

I hate to see someone throw away everything for nothing.

[OneVike]

Well, sure they're easy to spot, once you've got your official FR decoder ring, silly! Even trolls must know that!

Don't forget the official glasses that helps us see through the Bu^*+@it.

[SaraJohnson]

Oops....sorry. I thought I had activated the cone of silence. Won’t happen again .. ;-)

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Many make the mistake of stepping outside the cone of silence while they are on the Internets. :)

[Windflier]

Many make the mistake of stepping outside the cone of silence while they are on the Internets. :)

Ah....good call. I forgot about that little technical detail .. LOL