Mid-week news on Governor Romney…

Demonstrating his regard for hard-working Iowans, Gov Romney is heading to The Hawkeye State this Friday:

Just days after naming former 2008 campaign staffer Sara Craig as his State Director for Iowa, Romney will head to the Hawkeye State himself, starting his day Friday meeting with employees at AgVision Agriculture Software, a company that specializes in providing computer software to grain elevators, seed processors, fertilizer retailers and feed stores, to name a few.

Romney will then be the kick-off speaker for the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Presidential Forum Speaker Series. The series, sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Mediacom and IowaPolitics.com, will extend invitations to all prospective presidential candidates before the 2012 Presidential Caucuses.

Later Friday, Romney will head to Cedar Rapids to attend a picnic at the Hughes Farm, hosted by the Johnson and Linn County GOP.

(links and emphasis added)
Those wishing to attend the Des Moines Presidential Forum may register here.

IOWA UPDATE -Seattle pi
Romney spoke on the phone Wednesday with Iowa’s Governor Terry Branstad:

“Certainly on economic issues Gov. Romney could do very well,” Branstad, a pro-business Republican nominated last year over a strict social conservative, told The Associated Press. “I know he’s doing well nationally, but Iowa could be important for him.”
[...]
“Voters will see him frequently [in Iowa] and consistently hear him talk about his plan for creating jobs and growing the economy,” said Andrea Saul, communications director for Romney’s presidential exploratory campaign.

Mitt Romney revs up his Florida money machine

While Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum are meeting and greeting in Florida, Mitt Romney returns to Jacksonville to raise dough with Who’s who of Republican elites. Northeast Florida, a high turnout GOP stronghold, was very much Romney country in 2008. He crushed John McCain in that region.

Scaramucci Deserts Obama For Romney

Hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci is deserting an old classmate to beat the fundraising bushes for his rival.

The founder of $7.2 billion Skybridge Capital is holding a Presidential campaign fundraising dinner for Republican Mitt Romney, thereby turning his back on his Harvard Law School classmate and White House incumbent Barack Obama.

The $2,500 per plate event is slated for June at the Mandarin Hotel in New York, according to a report in MarketWatch.

But a source told HedgeFund.net that Scaramucci had already held more private fundraising events for his candidate mostly aimed at hedge fund managers and other investment advisors.

Romney, who co-founded private equity firm Bain Capital before he served as Massachusetts governor, is the type of pro-business Republican that many in the asset class would like to see as their next President.
[...]
Scaramucci, who supported Obama in the 2008 election, became disenchanted by what he perceived as the President’s anti-Wall Street attitudes.

He told Obama on a CNBC town hall discussion last fall that the administration’s regulatory stances made him feel like “a piñata.”

(emphasis added)

Contributions go to Romney for President Exploratory Committee Inc.

Though Romney isn’t a presidential candidate yet and hasn’t begun official campaigning, and in spite of FreedomWorks, he comes out on top in four polls this week:

★ Mitt Romney wins Harris poll (5/25/11)

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has won another poll.

Mr. Romney, a potential Republican presidential candidate, received 14 percent support in the latest Harris poll.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who said he would not seek the Republican presidential nomination before the vote was taken, was second among likely GOP voters in the poll released Monday at 12 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 10 percent.

The remaining field of potential candidates received less than 8 percent and “undecided” led the field with 23 percent.

The poll is the third in less than twenty-four hours to show Mr. Romney as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. The former Massachusetts governor took first in a CNN poll released Monday and an Ohio poll released later that day also showed Mr. Romney leading the pack of Republicans.

(emphasis added)

★ Insider Advantage (5/24/11)

Insider Advantage conducted a survey for Channel 2 Action News of 770 likely Republican and Independent voters in which Georgia’s Herman Cain is statistically tied for second place with Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann.

According to the poll, Mitt Romney received 16.2% of the vote, Michelle Bachmann 11.8 %, Sarah Palin 11%, Herman Cain 10.9%, Tim Pawlenty 7.4%, Newt Gingrich 6.4%, Ron Paul 5%, Other 5.3%, Undecided 25.5%.

★ CNN/WMUR by New Hampshire Survey Center (5/23/11)

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney led the poll, garnering 32 percent of GOP primary voters in New Hampshire, the state where the nation’s first presidential primary is to be held. For the rest of the GOP players, they are clumped at the bottom of the lineup, with their batting averages amongst voters in the single digits.

★ Dick Morris GMRS Survey (5/25/11)

A survey completed on May 23rd shows Mitt Romney seizing a decisive national lead in the Republican Presidential Primary. Romney, who was getting only 22% of the vote before Trump and Huckabee pulled out, now swells to 30% of the primary vote (if Sarah Palin does not run).

With Palin out of the race, the Morris Poll found the following results:
Romney = 30%
Gingrich = 15%
Bachmann = 7%
Cain = 7%
Pawlenty = 5%
Santorum = 3%
Huntsman = 1%

With Palin in the contest, Romney still leads with 25% of the vote, followed by Palin at 16% and Gingrich at 11%. No other candidate gets more than 6%.

(emphasis added all polls)

I couldn’t finish this midweek update without mentioning a comment made by Tim Pawlenty when he officially announced his candidacy on Monday:

“We’re not going to be the money champion in the race to start with though my friend Mitt Romney will be the front-runner in that regard. But we’re going to have enough money to run a competitive and successful campaign. It may not be the BMW or Mercedes campaign, but it will be a good solid Buick and maybe even trending towards a Cadillac and that will be enough for us to be competitive and win.”

I don’t know if that was a T-Paw class warfare dart or his way of downplaying Romney’s $10.25 million fundraiser last week, but either way, the folksy inference that The Gov is running a BMW or Mercedes campaign is —— folksy. So, here’s my metaphor for T-Paw…

With sleeves rolled up and eyes clearly focused on rebuilding our nation, Romney’s hands are firmly wrapped around the wheel of a Mack big rig truck loaded with a lifetime of business experience, intelligence, organization, common sense leadership, values, work ethic, and wisdom.

I can’t wait for the Romney big rig to shift into full gear and head on down the road to the White House!

► Jayde Wyatt