Romney Pins Hopes On Utah To Save Him
Related: Romney Leading Polls In Next Primary
Politico:
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — The wealthy, CEO-turned-governor son of a wealthy CEO-turned-governor, Mitt Romney can’t exactly feel the pain of the anxiety-racked middle-class in this struggling state. But as he battles to keep his presidential hopes alive here, the native Michigander is playing the next best card: a pledge to not forget where he came from.
At every step during a Saturday dash across the state, Romney laced his remarks and public appearances with words and images meant to remind locals that he had grown up in the state and would offer special attention to a place that, as the all-too-familiar refrain goes, is “suffering through a one-state recession.”
Romney, whose last chance to secure his party’s presidential nomination may be riding on Tuesday’s results, is offering voters here something of a bargain: Give him a chance at the presidency, and he’ll return Michigan’s economy to a vigor last seen when the Big Three automakers reigned supreme and jobs were as plentiful as tail fins.
For a Harvard Business School grad who swears by statistics and sometimes seems to lack a personal touch, it’s a striking appeal, based more on human emotion than empirical data.
“I make you this commitment: If I’m president of the United States, I will not rest until Michigan has come back,” Romney pledged to loud applause at his final rally here in the western part of the state on Lake Michigan.
Earlier in the day, not far from his childhood home outside Detroit, Romney slung his arm around the shoulder of his first-grade teacher and walked her outside after a speech to introduce her to the press corps.
The beaming candidate delighted in explaining why it was that Mrs. Gloria Blazo, now 78 and still clutching her roster from Romney’s 1953-1954 class, knew him as “Billy” at Vaughn Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills. (It’s a derivative of his first name, Willard).
Then, after flying across the state to Battle Creek for a rowdy hangar rally, he reminded the residents of the home of Kellogg Company that he knows exactly where he is.
“The Cereal City knows how to welcome people, I’ll you that,” Romney said to even more applause.
A middle class home in a middle class neighborhood of the town of Marshall is next. There, at the kitchen table of Elizabeth Sachs, an unemployed, single mother of two, Romney put a face and a name with Michigan’s plight.
It’s not easy for a multimillionaire private equity executive to identify with the struggles of a laid-off retail manager who is looking to sell her house and move to Florida, but Romney had dutifully done his homework before the press was invited into the Christmas decoration-bedecked home.
He rattled off precise details about Sachs’ employment and health care challenges as well as the larger economic problems enveloping the community, and he went so far as to cite the names of companies that have closed down local operations in recent years (“GM, Eaton, State Farm”).
Finally, it was out here, in the struggling working class town of St. Joseph, where another rally was held. As at every other event, his local introducers took great care to cite his local connections.
And where they left off, Romney took over. He knew he was back in Michigan in winter, he said, because the clouds are out during the day, the trees are all the right height, the cars are almost all American-made, and — the ironic laugh line — nobody speaks with an accent.
But for all his homestate pride, Romney has not lived in the state as a full-time resident since departing for college in 1965. He resides in a wealthy suburb of Boston and has vacation homes in Utah and New Hampshire.
No one here mentioned this, however, during the former Massachusetts governor’s last-ditch effort to relate to voters and convince them that he cares deeply about the problems they’re facing.
Perhaps it was the urgency of the moment, or a genuine comfort level in returning to the place of his youth, or both, but Romney seemed much more at ease in delivering his refashioned message of change here.
His stump speech was tight, neatly connecting his direct ties to the state’s sputtering auto industry (his father ran American Motors before becoming governor) and his experience as a turnaround artist with the need to send an outsider to the White House. In case anyone was wondering, he knows his way around an engine, too.
What’s more, his audience, particularly in Battle Creek and St. Joseph, didn’t seem to find anything cloying about his golly-gee, heartland wholesomeness — it’s something they can relate to.
In Iowa and New Hampshire, his well-worn stump story about his sons’ surprising him for his 60th birthday with an old AMC Rambler provoked, at best, a chuckle and grin. In Michigan, the tale gets hearty laughs, since more than a few residents tooled around in their own Ramblers back in the day.
At every event in the state, Romney is able to accomplish something that has largely eluded him during his underperforming campaign: showing a bit of humanity.
In referring to a father he clearly revered, Romney wasn’t reciting canned one-liners — he’s exposing true emotion.
“It touches my heart,” Romney said in St. Joseph, meaning it, when he he receives a momento from one of his dad’s inaugurations. “There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about my mom and my dad.”
Still, there were signs of the candidate whose inability to connect with voters has been partly to blame for him losing the first two GOP contests.
Asked, in a brief chat walking out of the Battle Creek rally, why his ties to the state are important, Romney noted his deep roots and understanding of the problems besetting the state — but then, as he is wont to do, he tried a little too hard.
“I care very deeply about the industries here — and know a lot about them,” Romney bragged. “I’ve not only lived here, but I’ve invested in businesses here. We bought Domino’s Pizza, which is headquartered in Ann Arbor.”
Still, Romney appears to finally be finding his footing, with an approach that is at times self-deprecating, then passionate and even spontaneous.
There is at least some reason to believe the less-than-subtle reminders of his native son status — they came at the start, middle and finish of his speech — are being noticed.
Asked why she was supporting Romney after his speech in Livonia, near Detroit, Nikki McCaffrey cited his business background before conceding that’s not all she likes about him.
“Well, I like the fact that he’s from Michigan,” says McCaffrey, a Lincoln Park resident. “If you’ve got a personal connection to anything, you work harder.”
Should he resurrect his faltering presidential campaign here — and new polls show him to be neck-and-neck or even leading Arizona Sen. John McCain — it will be in no small part because he finally made that personal connection.
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Utah isn’t the only state in the union Mr Romney. There are 49 others. Utah won’t save your campaign…might buy you some time…but that’s about it.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:48 amThat whole article was about Michigan. I’m confused…
January 13th, 2008 at 1:16 pmI think the “Utah” comment is aimed at Romney needing the Mormon vote to shore up his campaign in Michigan. I still say there are 49 other states. Securing the Mormon vote won’t be enough…he’ll have to find some sort of broader appeal of Republicans to save his campaign. Good luck.
January 13th, 2008 at 1:37 pmI kinda like Romney - I can’t decide if I totally trust him, but I think that he has been ganged up on by the RINOs (McCain and Huckaliberal) . . . I don’t think he should be criticized just because he has money and clearly just because he is Mormon. It takes a smart person and a true leader to make a lot of money. I like some of his economical ideas . . . All the Repubs are all okay on the war (except Rue Paul and the Huckster), but my bottom line, as all my Dollard friends know, is border security and Romney speaks “okay” regarding that matter; after President Bush, though I have to look all the way through the person and see if I trust them to actually follow through with their promises.
I would think maybe a great ticket would be Thompson/Romney or Romney/Thompson.
McCain will never make it (hopefully) because smart conservatives know who he is a liberal on all non-war matters and really aligns himself with (Kennedy/Feingold/Lieberman) and that he will let 12 million non-American law breakers off the hook calling it compassion. We really have to totally get the dimpled man out of the picture because he is just selling snake oil. I don’t trust him as far as i could throw him and that is a lot farther since he lost all that weight. McCain and Huckster are taking away votes from real conservatives in the Rebuplican party. We need to rid them to get a clear conservative picture. That is if there are any real conservative voters out there . . . H E L L O - Are you out there?!!
January 13th, 2008 at 3:25 pmOriginal Headline from Politico: “Mitt pins hopes on home state to save him.” Utah’s NOT his home state.
Living in Utah AND being Mormon, I find it laughable that either the Utah vote or the “Mormon Vote” could do much of anything for his campaign. I think that Mormons make up about maybe about 2% of the US population, and aren’t really into “Identity Politics” like Huckabee’s Evangelical following. I can think of plenty of Mormons I’d NEVER vote for (Harry Reid, anyone?).
That being said, I like Romney’s track record. He knows how to successfully manage and how to surround himself with the right people. Not only has he succeeded in business, in the Olympics and as governor; but the guy’s been happily married for 38 years (to the same woman), raised a fine family and doesn’t have a closet full of scandals to worry about. All of that speaks volumes about a person. I think he’d do a fine job as POTUS.
And Pat? THANK YOU for getting us the news that the MSM refuses to (you know, the truth…).
January 13th, 2008 at 9:35 pm“Romney Pins Hopes On Utah To Save Him”
That’s a stupid subject line, and I completely disagree with Dan’s initial comment and his follow-up post, as this article isn’t about Utah at all, and not about “Mormons” saving Romney’s campaign. Utah was only mentioned once as the place of one of Romney’s vacation homes, and there was absolutely NO mention of Mormon populations or voters in Michigan.
Has Pat said the use of “Utah” was a referrence to Mormons? Is that really what his subject line was about? Because, even if he did, it doesn’t change a damn thing about Romney’s campaign in Michigan, this article, or in America at large. If you haven’t noticed, this last month has been about the ONLY time Romney’s religion hasn’t been a prominent criticism of Romney, and Dan’s raising it again, or Pat’s if that’s what he’s doing, is lame and misguided.
Romney ranks very high on my list, but I will happily vote for Thompson or Giuliani over McCain, Huckabee, Ron Paul or any of the Democrats, who I lovingly call the Democratic H.O.Es. (Hillary, Obama, and Edwards).
January 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pmNTG,
I think you nailed it and Pat’s headline was just a slip-up. Correct me if I am wrong.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm