TV Appearance

Mitt will appear on Fox News Sunday tomorrow with Chris Wallace. Check local listings.

Bennett endorses Romney for 2008

On the heels of Utah Senator Orrin Hatch calling Mitt "one of the best managers in the country," Utah's other senator, Bob Bennett, today endorsed Governor Romney.

Sen. Bob Bennett says Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is "certainly my choice" for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. Romney is the strongest candidate the Republicans could field, added Bennett, R-Utah.

It is quite unusual for US Senators to come out this early in support of a candidate. It will be amazing to see what becomes of candidate Romney when his name ID spikes.

Romney hires former top Bush campaign policy adviser

From WFSB.com...

Gov. Mitt Romney, continuing to build a political operation reaching outside Massachusetts, has hired a domestic policy adviser who held that key role for George W. Bush during his first campaign for the presidency.

Sally Canfield, currently policy adviser to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, will move to Boston and join the payroll of Romney's political action committee in mid- to late-March.

After working on Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, Canfield served as a top adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson before helping draft the founding legislation for the Department of Homeland Security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Another sign of a 2008 run, and nabbing top people helps legitimize us as a top-tier candidate.

Rumors also persist that Mitt is a favorite of some old-line Bush 41 alumni. The last person I heard say this was Howard Fineman on The Chris Matthews Show (not Hardball). So that's interesting.

Mass Dems take shots at Gov. Romney's travels...

In this Boston Globe article, the Massachussetts Democrats again try to criticize the governor for his frequent travels to other states.

Cyndi Roy, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said Romney's absenteeism is becoming routine.

''Romney being away this week or next week isn't telling of anything. His running around the country for the past year and a half is more telling," she said. ''While he's courting Republicans around the country, we have real issues that need to be taken care of back home."

What they don't tell you, though is that his travels to Ohio, South Carolina and New Hampshire all have one thing in common -- all have elections this year for Governor. And Mitt, as head of the National Governor's Association, is charged with aiding GOP candidates in those elections. As Romney spokeswoman Julie Teer adds,

''Governor Romney's first priority is Massachusetts, and he's working hard to create jobs, reform education, and enact healthcare reform," she said. ''Just as Mike Dukakis traveled to help fellow governors as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association," Teer said of the former governor and presidential candidate, ''Governor Romney travels to help Republican governors."

Let the pre-emptive strikes continue. The Democratic party, in Mass and elsewhere, are shaking in their boots at the prospect of facing Mitt Romney in 2008.

Mitt's SC Trip a Hit...

The Governor spoke in South Carolina last night, and here is the write-up from the local Greenville News. Romney's main purpose in traveling to South Carolina was in his role as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, promoting the re-election of SC Governor Mark Sanford.

"SCGOP" posted a review of the evening on his diary at RedState.com, and it has elicited many comments in favor of Mitt, including:

• "Personally, I think Romney/Sanford sounds like a real nice ticket." from 'jamespolk,'
• "Romney also has the following the advantage over ALL the candidates:
  
  * smartest guy in politics (top of class from Harvard law/mba)
  * no corruption, sex scandals, or drinking issues (he's probably the most untainted guy in major politics today)
  * financial wizard (founded Bain Capital, turned around Utah Olympics from misery, great job in MA fixing budget and reforming)
  * very logical conservative in Reagan's mold, and is awesome at explaining why conservative values and politics are the best choice
  * has supported Bush 100% on foreign policy
  * charismatic, can "rally" support from the middle and right, and delivers great speeches (important after Bush)
  * he's not a Senator, so the Presidential campaign won't be 24/7 debate over each Senate vote like there would be with Allen or McCain." from 'iamright,' and
• "He is untouched by Washington, and he is conservative enough to rally the base, especially with the right VP. He has my full support." from 'FirstState.'
  

Okay, that last one is me. But I encourage you to go to Red State and show your support for Romney.

h/t Nathan for the Greenville Article

Working on a logo

These are my first attempts at a logo.

Affirmation of my Big 4 theory...

I have advocated a position that the race for the nomination will be fought amont four candidates: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, George Allen and Governor Romney, as recently as in my post about the CPAC straw poll. In other forums, people have contested this, adding a Frist or a Tancredo or trying to remove Mitt from the equation. So it's nice when a site like NRO affirms my belief. From the NRO TKS blog, Jim Geraghty writes about the potential replacements should VP Cheney resign:

We will begin by presuming that the President would not pick one of the Big Four contenders for the Republican nomination in 2008 – John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, George Allen or Mitt Romney. Picking any one of these guys automatically makes that person the de facto frontrunner for 2008, and then the Bush administration has made three big enemies out of the others.

I couldn't agree more. I would love to see some 4-way polling in NH, MI, SC, AZ, DE, etc...

CNN/USAT/Gallup Poll

The latest polling data on the 2008 race comes from Gallup, and the results are fairly predictable:

Rudy Giuliani 33
John McCain 28
George Allen 7
Bill Frist 6
MITT ROMNEY 3

Why this poll is meaningless:

1. It is really a benchmark for name ID.
2. It is a nationwide poll of Republicans and "Lean" Republicans. Nationwide Republicans and "Leaners" do not select the nominee. Only registered Republicans who vote in pre-Super Tuesday primary states pick the nominee.
   

I imagine that this is a fairly accurate representation of the nationwide name ID for these candidates, although I would think Frist would be recognized at a higher rate than Allen.

Make no mistake, however, ladies and gents, we have a lot of work in front of us to overcome the national profile that Rudy and McCain already have.

Our First Link!

Allen under 50% in VA-SEN

My new friend Delathought, a conservative Delaware blogger, has referenced DE for Romney in this post. Let's hope the attention keeps coming.

Romney Working Hard, Becoming a Factor in SC

This piece in the Hill updates readers on the GOP horse race in South Carolina. It sounds like a 2-man race between the Governor and John McCain, and they have a lot to say about Mitt:

Romney, in particular, party officials and consultants said, has aggressively courted grassroots activists. One Republican operative attributed this to Romney’s concern that he has yet to overcome “the Massachusetts factor” and Southerners’ distaste for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

“Not that we’re leery of them,” he said of Massachusetts candidates, “but we are.”

Romney has also ramped up his involvement in local elections, Dawson and Sullivan said.

In 2004, Sullivan said, Romney gave between $40,000 and $50,000 to Republicans running for the state House and in other races in South Carolina.

This year, Sullivan said, “he’s turned around and given money to the party … and they’re looking for a full-time person down here just to hand out checks.”

Great advance work by the Romney/Commonwealth team. Given his built-in competitiveness in early-primary states like New Hampshire, Arizona and Michigan, if he can perform well in South Carolina, we really have a shot at making this a two-man race. And I'll take those odds every day.

ARG Poll

This poll was taken of likely GOP Primary voters in seven states, from Feb. 2-9, by American Research Group. Governor Romney was the only candidate outside of McCain to poll in double digits (ME, MA, RI) outside of Pataki's 12 points in CT.

3 Caveats:

• Rudy Giuliani is not in any of the polls.
• Six of the seven states are in New England, where Mitt has higher name ID than most.
  
• He lost in his own home state.
  

Interesting things to note here:

• George Allen only registered in 4 states, and no higher than 1%.
• McCain naturally polled as the front-runner, since he has a nationwide presence.
• Large numbers (23-40%) of undecideds.
  

All in all, a good start.

CPAC Straw Poll Results

Numbers are in from the CPAC Straw Poll, and the results are mixed. The raw data is here:

• George Allen - 22%
• John McCain - 20%
• Rudy Giuliani - 12%
• Condi Rice - 10%
• Bill Frist - 6%
• Tom Tancredo - 5%
• MITT ROMNEY - 5%
• Rick Santorum - 3%
• George Pataki - 3%
• Undecided - 4%

We can look at this a number of ways. First and foremost, there is no favorite for the nomination, even among conservatives. Secondly, Allen, Frist and Tancredo spoke at CPAC. Also, 81% of the respondents were between 18 and 21, so the results are misleading at best. The other misleading factor, in my opinion is that Frist, Tancredo, Santorum and Pataki are not viable candidates, and Rice won't run. This race, at this point is Allen-Giuliani-McCain-Romney.
This poll means nothing, other than Mitt scores between Tancredo and Santorum - both hardcore conservatives. So the Governor has some conservative bona fides, and as he becomes more public, he will emerge from both the conservative and moderate packs.

Reminders of Success

The AP reminds us today of Romney's strong leadership and great success at the '02 Salt Lake City Olympics.

"As he weighs a run for president, does he hope people remember his role in turning around the bribery-tainted 2002 Salt Lake City Games?

Well, Romney said he isn't one to deal in hypotheticals and won't hazard as guess as to what it would mean for his political future. But he knows it has helped him in his political past."

And it will again, because he has left a long trail of executive success in his wake: Bain Capital, the 2002 Olympics, and governing Massachussetts out of debt and into the black without raising taxes. And in each case, he was the man in charge. His whole adult life, the buck has stopped with Mitt, and he has been successful. This is, and will remain, Reason #1 why he should be our next President.

Michigan Columnist High on Romney's Ed Plan

In this column, Detroit News columnist tells his readers "Michigan could use an education leader like Mitt Romney." The gist of his piece is here:

"Massachusetts leads the nation in the percentage of adults with college degrees. At 48 percent, its rate is more than twice that of Michigan's.

Yet Gov. Mitt Romney knows that half isn't good enough."

And then there's this:

"His goal is for Massachusetts students to not only lead the nation in performance, but to consistently rank among the best in the world."

They already lead the nation, but Romney is not satisfied. Another reason he will be the next President of the United States.

Also, in this article, Senator Orrin Hatch says:

"I’ll just say this as a matter of fact: Mitt Romney has more management ability than any potential candidate on either side. He is one of the best managers in the country. He took over Massachusetts, which is an extremely liberal state with a totally dominant Democratic Legislature and turned a $3 billion deficit into a $1 billion surplus in just the few years he’s been in there."

h/t yabajobu 258

Coming Soon...

Delawareans for Mitt Romney in '08 coming soon...