All About Mitt

More attacks from the Left and Right

2007-01-24T07:37:00.001-08:00

Senator Brownback has started in on Mitt already, as he's likely seen Romney as his biggest obstacle to gaining the support of the Christian Right. In an interview in the Christian Broadcast Network's online site (CNBnews.com), Brownback asserted that he was the "solidly-pro life" candidate in the field, and then called out Mitt for past indiscretions, like flip-flopping on social issues. I don't know who reads the CNB news site, but anybody that does probably takes what it says as Gospel (get it?).

Meanwhile, Talking Points Memo, not a Christian or Conservative site, has been covering the story that Mitt made contributions to a Democrat in 1992. Eh, it was 15 years ago, not too big a deal, right? Except that the contibution was to Dick Swett, a fellow Mormon.

Will this unleash the "Romney cares more about Mormons than he does about the Party?" We'll keep a close eye on the wingnuts, er, commentators in the next few days.

The Endorsements Continue

2007-01-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

As a governor of Massachusetts, Mitt has been striving for legitimacy in the world of foreign relations, national security, and intelligence. Today, Hotline is reporting that he's revealed the endorsement of Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), the outgoing chair of the House intelligence committee.

It's a good pick up, and coming on the heels of a recently announced endorsement by Denny Hastert, continues to show that Mitt is picking up high profile help.

Mitt is currently in Israel, urging a more hardline UN stance against Iran.

Hoekstra, Iran...that should do the trick, right?

Polls

2007-01-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

First, to dispose of it quickly, the national poll, conducted by USA Today/Gallop (http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26170). National polls don't mean a whole heck of a lot during a nominating season, and I certainly don't think they mean a lot more than a year away from the contests. Maybe money. Trends can be instructive, but I generally don't put a ton of stock into the national polls. We've seen the national polling favorites be shaken up completely after the first round of results in the caucuses and primaries themselves.

That said, here's the GOP lineup today, with trendlines from December and November, respectively:

Guiliani: 31 (28, 28)
McCain: 27 (28, 26)
Gingrich: 10 (8, 7)
Romney: 7 (4, 5)
Pataki: 3 (1, 1)
Thompson 2 (2, 2)

More importantly, Zogby has a new New Hampshire poll out (http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1237). This one is much more important, as folks in New Hampshire are the ones that will be voting, and they're also the ones paying more attention at this point than most other places in the country. Trendlines here are very instructive as we watch how this plays out. Important to note, this is a telephone poll and doesn't look like it took online results into account:

McCain: 26%
Guiliani: 20%
Romney: 13%
Rice: 7%
Gingrich: 6%

I'll include trendlines and fix the links soon, this was done on the fly...

Straw poll madness in Arizona

2007-01-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

Truly, madness.

The folks in Arizona must really love them some anti-immigration rhetoric: Duncan Hunter won. It was a poll of committeemen in a single county, Maricopa, but that county includes Phoenix and, according to Congressional Quarterly, is home to about 60% of Arizona's population.

This is why Democrats have to love the entry of folks like Hunter and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo into the race. While Bush had made historic gains among Latinos in 2004, the Republican party blew them (and then some, to the tune of 70%) in the 2006 midterms. A silver lining to their utter inability to do anything about immigration reform might have been that, with the issue dying down, they could try to win back some of the Latino vote that they covet. Enter Hunter and Tancredo, bellowing at the top of their lungs about making immigrants into criminals (or worse, insinuating that they already are). Even if they don't win many delegates, having candidates in the debate, making headlines, will be enough to anger Latino voters and organizers who won't likely forget by the general election which party pointed the finger at them. It won't help if Bush goes ahead with his plan to install Mel Martinez as RNC chair and the party has a protracted fight because Martinez isn't as hardline anti-immigration as the party activists.

Romney finished a strong second, besting Gingrich and even native McCain.

Another thing about the Hunter win in Arizona, obviously, is the message it sends about McCain. While formidable in networks, fundraising, etc, the fact that he may have a fight on his own soil doesn't bode well for his chances of assuming a mantle of inevitability, which is obviously his goal at the moment.

The results, according to Congressional Quarterly:

"A total of 458 party officials voted for their preferred Republican candidates for president — and Hunter came out on top with 96 votes. Taking second and third place were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 82 votes and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who received 53 votes. McCain ran fourth with 50 votes."

Note: as mentioned above, after deliberation, Tancredo officially launched his exploratory committee today. This carves off another slice of the right, but I'm not sure Mitt was ever going to swing the hardcore anti-immigration voters, which will migrate to Tancredo's camp pretty quickly here.

Conservatives Eager to frame Romney as Massachusetts Liberal

2007-01-12T11:54:00.001-08:00

Another hit piece from a conservative commentator, this time from the American Chronicle, written by a no-name columnist (Selwyn Duke) that has a regular gig at Alan Keyes' website, Renewamerica.us, among others.

The gist, basically, is that Romney is more similar to Al Gore and Barack Obama than he is to real conservatives.

"While he now claims to be pro-life, he supported legalization of the “morning-after” abortion pill, RU-486.

-snip-

Of course, Romney says that his views have "evolved." But I strongly suspect his adaptation relates more to the evolution of political ambitions than that of conscience. Call me cynical, but unless you’ve been cloistered in an ancient monastery for the duration, I’m very suspicious of deep personal growth occurring between ages 55 and 59.

Romney really screwed up with his "I'm more liberal than Ted Kennedy" schtick in his 1994 race for Senate against Kennedy, and the national conservatives aren't likely to let him forget it any time soon.

Mass Resistance has been holding his feet to the fire for some time now on gay marriage issues, and conservative columnists like the one above have been using the Mass Resistance material about Romney as opposition research against Romney. MR has promised to release an updated version of their "Mitt Romney Deception Report," on January 18th.

Today, Romney's folks lashed out at Brian Camenker, the leader of Mass Resistance, in what is likely a preemptive strike against the January 18th report.

This may be the most important period of the entire campaign for Camp Romney's spinners. If their guy gets ground out by conservatives before he can get his legs under him, it'll be a tough climb to the top. It seems like the next few months will be a heads-up race between Romney establishing credibility (See: winning straw polls, raising $6.5 million in one day, flouting endorsements) versus the efforts of conservatives on the right to paint him as a liberal. With folks like Brownback and now Ron Paul in the race, Romney needs to sew up the right wing as quickly as possible.

Mitt wins first straw poll in South Carolina

2007-01-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Hotline is reporting that the county executive committee in Aiken County, SC took a straw poll and gave Mitt the win.

The voting, according to Hotline, went as follows:

Of the 30 members, 11 voted for Romney, 5 voted for Tom Tancredo, 4 voted for Newt Gingrich, 3 voted for John McCain, 2 voted for Tom Coburn, two for Mike Huckabee, and 1 (each) for Pataki, Giuliani and Duncan Hunter.

Aiken is located on the western edge of South Carolina, and had a population of roughly 143,000 as of the census in 2000, and a median household income of $38,000.

Hmm...

2006-10-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

You Tube video

Hotline White House Rankings: Mitt is runner-up to McCain

2006-09-02T12:40:00.001-07:00

Mitt continues in the number two slot in
National Journal's White House 2008 rankings , which combine factors of "organization, money, buzz and polling." He was second to McCain in the last rankings as well.

National Journal seems as fascinated with Mitt's rise as we are:

How did a Massachusetts governor who is a Mormon, passed universal health care and used to be a social libertarian become the darling of elite conservatives who can't stomach McCain? The transformation is remarkable -- and we bet it will become a hurdle. News last week that Romney's chief of staff Beth Myers is joining the PAC suggests Romney wants the mechanics of his pre-presidential bid to run smoothly. But isn't there a vacuum in the GOP field if, a year from now, the final two are still McCain and Romney?

Backpedaling on Stem Cells?

2006-09-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Mitt Continued to Bash Stem Cell Research.

Calling it "Orwellian," Romney criticized the practice of creating embryos for study crossed a "very bright moral line," and noted that it was "almost like the movie the Matrix."

Well, at least it was high-minded debate.

Toby Barlow.notes that Mitt is picking the wrong fight. The debate today isn't over the creation of embryos, it's about the use of existing cells.

But, always conscious of presidential run position-shifting, I have to wonder if, in addition to posturing, this is a move to the right in order to appease conservatives. The
Boston Globe. noted in February, when Mitt began to reverse course on stem cell research, that he had proclaimed himself a supporter of the research during his campaign for governor in Massachusetts, and that as recently as January 2006 had stated that he supported the Massachusettes legislature's promotion of the research.

Hmm...

Environmental Mitt?

2006-08-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Conservation? Biofules? Wind and biomass powered public buildings? Incentives for customers who reduce energy consumption? Not your run of the mill Republican platform from which to be launching a presidential campaign, but it looks like Mitt Romney will be competing with NY governor George Pataki for the early corner on the environmental front in the GOP nomination fight.
Romney introduced a comprehensive plan in Massachusetts this week, and I'd wager he'll use it as a test run for a portion of his national agenda.

If the 2008 GOP fight is about competence and not just security and terrorism, this may be a smart move. At the very least, it provides a good avenue for him to brandish his record as a governor, one that the likes of McCain, et al. are unable to highlight.

Uh Oh...Big Dig Problems for Mitt?

2006-08-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Big Dig chaos of the last few weeks have been a boon for Mitt, allowing him to grab headlines almost daily in numerous national publications with his management of the situation.

However, did the inspections that he ordered make things worse?
The Boston Herald says maybe:

[A] memo, sent by a top official with Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, singles out the actions of inspectors working under Gov. Mitt Romney, charging that tests they conducted at 8,500 pounds may have permanently damaged several ceiling fixtures.

---

Additionally,
Romney cancelled an event today with the Wisconsin Republicans, presumably so that he can continue to deal with the airport situation.

Flashing his Security Credentials

2006-08-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

Every politician worth his or her salt today will be making public statements about the foiled terror plot that British and US law enforcement discovered. Mitt got in on the act quickly, ordering the National Guard to Logan Airport in Boston and throwing a press conference to talk about it.

CNN "Breaking News" scoreboard for protecting people:

Mitt, one
All other contenders, zero

That'll change pretty quickly, but give Mitt credit for striking first...

Is Mitt Romney gaffe-prone?

2006-08-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

We've seen him slip up before. Some took offense a few weeks ago when he referred to Boston's Big Dig as a 'tar baby,' referencing the potentially offensive word that is sometimes used as a slur against African Americans. Romney apologized, and it seemed more like an honest mistake than any malicious intent. After all, the word isn't only used in the derogatory sense, but one would think Romney would be extra careful in using words and phrases that could betray more nuanced meanings to particular groups.

However, he's facing some raised eyebrows this week after

referring to the Civil War as 'the War of Northern Agression.'He made the remark while speaking to Republicans in South Carolina. A local GOP consultant in the room said that, "It was something I took as a joke, and a couple of people laughed."

Also cited in the article above was an incident during a speech Mitt made at the Citadel, when he mentioned outfielder Johnny Damon's defection to NY and told the South Carolina audience that he and they shared something in common:

they both hate Yankees.

Any candidate is going to attempt to identify with local audiences, and Mitt isn't the first to have an awkward time of it (John Kerry used to name random football teams in the area, as if that would win over the hearts and minds). However, he'd better be very careful as he proceeds. He understands that running for the Republican nomination as the governor of a very blue state presents some challenges, but his efforts to overcome this have thus far been bizarre. Before using the language of Dixie to describe the Civil War and professing to hate Yankees, Mitt faced criticism back in Massachusetts for lambasting the Bay State seemingly every chance he got during his tours through the primary states. He was even accused of

"flipping the bird" at the voters in Massachusetts.

.

He's right that he has to find a way to get Republican primary voters to look beyond his blue state roots, but judging from his recent behavior, he hasn't yet figured out how.

Calling All Sox Fans...

2006-08-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today Mitt signed a bill that makes basketball the official game of Massachusetts.

The Berkshire Eagle Online snagged an interesting quote from a local bar owner:

"I bet Mitt could hit a foul shot, but he'll never come close to hitting a curveball," said Tim Carroll, 47, owner of the Sideline Saloon on Fenn Street.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/headlines/ci_4155599

Connecticut overshadowing everything else?

2006-08-07T19:14:00.001-07:00

With the entire political world seemingly transfixed with Connecticut on the eve of the Senate primary there, is it possible that the Lieberman/Lamont duel could drown out all of Mitt's potential press coverage? Could ABC actually forgo sticking Romney's name in a headline above another Big Dig process story?

Never fear, though, Rick Klein at the Boston Globe (or more likely, his intern) found a Mitt connection. Political reporters love to dig up farflung crossovers between opponents. I think they fancy themselves social commentators, spoonfeeding irony to the masses (remember how Howard Dean's grandmother was a bridesmaid in George W Bush's grandmother's wedding - what drama!!).

But, I digress. Turns out, Ned Lamont's father, Ted Lamont (no, seriously), worked under Mitt Romney's father George Romney in the Nixon Department of Housing and Urban Developement.

Fascinating stuff.

PS- my own prediction for Connecticut is that Lamont wins by 8 points or so, and that Lieberman drops his bid in a bout of "party unity" shortly thereafter. Polls have been bouncing all around in the closing hours of this thing, though, so we'll see what happens.

UPDATE: Lamont wins by 4 points.

Mitt heads to South Carolina

2006-08-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

Mitt was in South Carolina today to preside over a meeting of the Republican Governor's Association.

The local CBS station in Boston reports that topics to be addressed include healthy living and global competitiveness.

South Carolina is touted as the "First in the South" Republican Presidential Primary.

An American Research Group poll from this spring put Romney's popularity among likely South Carolina GOP primary voters at 4%.

Mitt's Early Organizing Put Him Ahead of Other GOPers?

2006-08-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

According to GOP gossip-extraordinaire Bob Novak, some in the Republican party think Mitt has jumped out to an early advantage in the initial primary states:

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, trailing in national polls of Republican voters, has the lead in organizing early primary states for the 2008 presidential run, in the opinion of neutral GOP politicians.

Romney is particularly strong in Iowa, where caucuses begin the presidential hunt. A win there would swell Romney's now anemic identification among Republican voters.

Per usual, Novak doesn't reveal his source.

Mitt Vetoes Pre-K

2006-08-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Boston Globe is reporting that yesterday Mitt vetoed a bill passed in the Massachusetts legislature that would require pre-kindergarten for every child between 2 and 4 years of age.

Boston Globe article about the veto

Note that he vetoed an education bill on a Friday, so that it would receive coverage in only the Saturday paper. Looks like maybe he was looking to fly under the radar in Massachusetts on what is likely a popular measure.

At the same time, the language he used in announcing his veto may point towards the political thinking behind the move. He objected not to the substance of the bill, but instead to the cost. Doesn't this statement look like a presidential candidate trying to establish bonafides as a fiscal conservative? He knows national conservatives might be wary of a governor from one of the bluest states:

"Before we create an expensive new burden on Massachusetts taxpayers, one that could lead to future tax increases, we ought to await the results of the pilot program, particularly as it relates to the cost of a large scale expansion."

This veto comes on the heels of another the governor made earlier in the week, vetoing a proposed minimum wage bill of $8 an hour. Glen Johnson has some interesting ideas about why he may have acted earlier with that veto.

Boston Globe article about the minimum wage veto

Intro: All About Mitt

2006-08-04T21:51:00.001-07:00

He's probably a candidate. He could be the frontrunner.

So how come none of us know anything about Mitt Romney?

Well, that's not entirely true. Governor of Massachusetts, and a Republican governor at that, in Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts (Mitt ran against Kennedy once and lost- did you know that?). He's taken charge of the Big Dig, and a few years ago he ran the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the first time Sasha Cohen fell. But be honest: prior to that, nobody knew a thing about Mitt Romney.

So how did it come to be that only four years later he's barnstorming Iowa and making speeches and getting his name on ABC News every day for weeks on end? How is it that this guy who didn't exist only five years ago may have a shot at the Republican nomination for president in 2008? How did he get here, and does he have a chance? How is he doing it?

I think it's worth trying to find out.

A Little Bit about Mitt

2006-08-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

We'll start with the basics.

Willard Mitt Romney
b. 3/12/1947, in Detroit, MI
Currently post: Governor of Massachusetts
His term began in 2002 and he serves through the end of this year.
Party: Republican
Religion: Mormon (we'll get back to this one, I'm sure)
Education: he attended Stanford briefly and later received his BA from Brigham Young, where he was the Valedictorian. He has an MBA from Harvard, and also a JD from Harvard Law.
Prior to elected office: Served as CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and founded a company called Bain Capital, a private equity firm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney helped with some of that.

So he's incredibly smart, or at least he knows how to get good grades at good schools. And he's been largely successful in business, managing his own firm and being credited by some with saving an Olympics bid and Games that were overbudget and shrouded in scandal.

He's also at least somewhat controversial in his current position. Some in Massachusetts challenged his status as a state resident, as he had spent much of the previous three years in Utah, though the Massachusetts constitution required eligible gubernatorial candidates to have resided in the state for at least seven years. Mitt argued that he maintained a house in Massachusetts during that period. The issue was initially floated by then-acting Governor Jane Swift (a Republican), prior to dropping out of her primary campaign against Mitt. Massachusetts Democrats picked up on the issue, seizing on the fact that Mitt had filed taxes in Utah, and even received a tax break on his $3.8 million home in Utah by claiming Utah (state song: Utah, This Is the Place) as his the "primary residence." A Republican-majority state ballot commission ruled that Mitt was eligible to run, and he won.

http://www.answers.com/topic/2002-mitt-romney-residency-issue