I hope Mr. Romney does well enough in Michigan today that he gets the opportunity to introduce the public to the real Mitt Romney. He is a wonderful and gifted guy. It would be nice if he and his campaign allowed the voters in on that secret.
If Mitt Romney’s closing speech to the Detroit Economic Club is the real, Mitt Romney, then we have an even bigger problem then we thought. Byron York had this analysis of the speech:
Romney’s proposals might not be music to the ears of free-market conservatives who believe Detroit made its own problems and needs to fix itself. But it’s what a lot of people in Michigan want to hear.
In other words, Romney ran to the left telling "a lot of people [what they] want to hear." If this is the real Mitt Romney, still telling people what they want to hear, abandoning his new refound principles, then just wait until a general election.
Dean Barnett, Mitt Romney’s former driver, attacks the campaign today in the New York Times:
Because Mr. Romney chose to make this argument a secondary matter compared to his stands on social issues, he mounted a campaign that was, at its most basic level, insincere. … But the public correctly sensed something disingenuous about Mr. Romney’s campaign.
A well-publicized weekend photo-op for Mitt Romney turns out to have been missing a piece of information that might have undermined its credibility: the unemployed single mom at the center of the event was the mother of a Romney staffer.
Romney even offered her advice that seems to characterize him:
Ironically, when it came time to take questions from the reporters gathered around Sachs’ kitchen table, Romney joked: "If you don’t want to answer any questions, that’s fine, too. What I’ve learned is, if they ask a question, you can answer something else."
Macomb County, Michigan, is one of the homes of the Reagan Democrat. Today, I saw John McCain give a town hall in the closing stretch of the Michigan primary. I don’t have pictures because my video camera was stolen, but I have impressions.
Michigan is in an a single-state recession. Unemployment is above 7%. Many of the current jobs are in manufacturing which, the Detroit News, the conservative paper in the state, has noted won’t come back. How to handle this is the fundamental debate. Mitt Romney is saying that he, personally, can turn the state around and that the future of Michigan is bright. McCain has argued that more realism and effort is needed, and has focused on retraining programs. My gut is that McCain wins this fight by recognizing the challenges. In New Hampshire exit polls McCain received substantially more support from people with economic anxiety, and Romney won only one economic subgroup, those making between $150k and $200k.
McCain’s answer is a retraining program. In March, I was in New Hampshire (before my camera was stolen), and asked him a similar question. This was his answer:
This is the backdrop of the town hall and the current debate in Michigan. Between 600-700 people attended (contrast with around 150 at Romney’s the previous day. In the Romney campaign’s defense, they have had some scheduling snafus that have forced them to cancel a number of events) The questions were primarily about national security, veterans, Iraq, etc., and economic issues like pharmaceuticals and healthcare, and the subprime crisis.
McCain was asked about the subprime crisis, and he passed the microphone to Carli Fiorina, the CEO of HP (formerly Hewlett Packard). She said that she had never campaigned before and was supporting McCain because he is "a unique and inspiring leader." She turned to answering the question and focused on the need for transparency and accountability. She said that there were many things "off balance sheet" so that risks couldn’t be properly accounted for. She then invoked Enron and said "if you can’t see it, you can’t understand it." One person in the audience liked the answer enough to say "Thank you Madame Vice President."
Off to an event at the Americans for Prosperity Forum.
I have worried about the strange sense that I get that Mitt Romney is out of touch. He seems like a rich guy who doesn’t understand what normal people go through. The question is whether this impression gets down into the voters. MSNBC’s exit polls found that in New Hampshire the only income class that Romney beat John McCain was $150-200k, and they tied above $200k.
But the former Massachusetts governor goes beyond that to say "anyone" with adjusted gross income under $200,000 — that’s after certain deductions — should be relieved of all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends, pushing his definition of the middle class well into six-figure incomes.
Now, I don’t have a problem with Romney’s position, but the polling above suggests that people might be getting an impression here. This could be bad news for him in Michigan, when Mike Huckabee is relating to the people who have "been laid off" and Romney is talking about "getting rid of people." Especially when there is 7%+ unemployment.
Jen Rubin captures the most important dynamic leading into South Carolina:
Thompson gave himself an opening in South Carolina and gave conservatives a place to jump from the Romney leaking ship. He may have scuffed up Huckabee sufficiently to allow either himself or McCain to win SC. If the latter he ironically would have done his old friend the greatest of favors. (Perhaps one he might remember when it comes to filling VP slots should he get that far.)
Fred Thompson could be in a place to split the South Carolina conservative vote, especially with this nasty anti-Mike Huckabee ad running.
A John McCain win in Michigan, followed by Thompson knee-capping Huckabee in South Carolina could lead to a pretty positive place for McCain.
The John McCain campaign is trying to score some endorsements out of the ranks of other campaigns. They are looking for a press boost and more momentum to add to what they already have. Note that with Rudy Giuliani’s complete pull-out of MIchigan those activists, voters, and endorsers may help with that boost.
Dear McCain Supporter,
Over the past 48 hours since John McCain’s comeback win in the New Hampshire primary, the McCain campaign has received many endorsements of people who were previously neutral, or in some cases had endorsed other campaigns. This list includes a former Governor, a high-ranking statewide official, State Representatives, County Chairs, and many more. Senator McCain clearly has the momentum in this campaign and people want to be a part of it. They know that he is the only candidate prepared to be Commander-in-Chief.
We will be releasing a new list of people in the next few days who have endorsed Senator McCain since his New Hampshire victory over Governor Mitt Romney. If you would like to endorse, or have any family or friends whom you believe would like to join Sen. McCain’s campaign, please let me know at jyob@mccain08hq.com. As we mentioned in a previous email, we request that any person who intends to run as a McCain delegate to the Republican National Convention emails us an official endorsement prior to the Primary.
Based on what has happened the last few days, we have every reason to believe that many of these folks are ready to join Senator McCain’s campaign. Several already have endorsed. Please contact anyone you know on this list and encourage them to join the team and let them know their support would be appreciated. We accept all late comers and would be grateful for the support of anyone who would like to climb aboard the Straight Talk Express as Senator McCain travels Michigan over the weekend!
PSS: Here is link to the McCain Michigan Momentum video from the post-New Hampshire stops in Michigan. Some of you are in the video! http://www.johnmccain.com/video/mi.htm
How do you submit these questions with any self-respect? She’s basically saying "Romney is the right guy, why don’t you agree?" That’s not an interview. That’s not credible. Is this what has happened to NRO?
