Almost overnight the political soda can has been shaken and the top has popped off. The question talking heads are asking is: Will Mitt Romney fizz or fizzle?
● Inside the political soda can…
Governor Mitt Romney re-worked his schedule so he could participate in Senator Jim Demint’s Palmetto Freedom Forum, likewise on taking part in a Labor Day Tea Party Express Rally. Then, Governor Sarah Palin announced she will also be at the same Tea Party rally (glad to hear she’ll be there) and *Freedom Works has decided to protest Romney’s appearance at the Tea Party. In the meantime, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) told the Tea Party folks where to go and unvetted Rick Perry remains in the spotlight.
Romney said he’d shift gears when August became a summer memory. That’s exactly what he’s doing. There’s a whole lot of speculation going on out there on how he adapts to the present GOP carbonation:
Rick Perry’s surge in the polls is prompting some high-profile Mitt Romney backers to urge the former Massachusetts governor to step up his efforts before it’s too late.
Romney’s high command said that was always the plan – and that they expect to engage Perry during next month’s debates, which will usher in the stretch run of the GOP presidential campaign.
The former Massachusetts governor will also accelerate his pace starting this Labor Day weekend, say campaign officials.
Romney will attend a Tea Party rally in Concord, New Hampshire, on Sunday, a Monday morning pancake breakfast in Manchester and then fly to South Carolina to attend a candidate forum put on by Sen. Jim DeMint.
Romney had originally indicated he would not attend the DeMint event, but he changed his mind after having a conversation with the influential conservative.
“He’s a good friend and we wanted to do what we could to make it work,” said senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom of their change of heart. DeMint was a key Romney backer in 2008, but is holding out this election cycle. Romney’s reconsideration suggests that the South Carolinian hasn’t ruled out endorsing the former governor again.
Fehrnstrom said Romney will also conduct a more aggressive media strategy beginning next month, appearing more frequently on cable TV news and conducting local TV interviews in early primary states.
“You’ll see him take it up a notch,” said the adviser.
Further, Romney aides said the campaign plans to roll out more endorsements, and work internally to bolster their grassroots effort, identifying more committed voters and building coalitions.
September will also likely mark the first open skirmishing between Romney and Perry, as they prepare to face off, along with the rest of the GOP field, for the first time at three debates.
“A lot of the comparing and contrasting will take place on stage at the debates,” said Fehrnstrom, adding that Romney’s primary focus will still be “President Obama and his failures.”
But Romney officials believe it’s inevitable that they’ll clash with Perry – in part because the brash Texan will give them an opportunity.
“Perry will throw the first punch,” predicted a top Romney aide. “He can’t help himself.”
● Others weigh in…
“Perry has certainly changed the mix of the race,” said former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Romney supporter and fundraiser. “I do think [Romney] needs to step it up several notches. The low-key campaign has served well him well to this point, but coming out of Labor Day he needs to be a lot more aggressive. The low-profile strategy is not going to work this fall.”
[...]
“The world has changed in the primary,” said veteran GOP consultant Mike Murphy, who worked for Romney in his 2002 gubernatorial race. “They have to decide how and where they beat Perry. The passive strategy – where they have name ID and none of their opponents do – is not working anymore.”
● Playing it by ear…
But Romney’s gurus point to three important but as yet unknown factors to explain why they’re not ready to reach for their rifle.
As long as the final field remains uncertain, the caucus and primary calendar unset and Perry’s ability to hold up over a series of debates and heightened media scrutiny unknown, they say they’re reluctant to make any hard and fast strategic decisions.
In state-by-state terms, this means they’re going to keep playing wait-and-see in Iowa and South Carolina, where they’ve limited Romney’s presence this year, until it becomes more clear who will be in the mix.
Should Sarah Palin decide to run and Bachmann and Rick Santorum hang in the fight, for example, Iowa could be more appealing to Romney since the GOP’s social conservative bloc would be splintered among several candidates.
“It’s all a parlor game until you know who’s in,” said a senior Romney aide of Iowa.
● Romney is ready…
[...] Romney used an appearance at the national VFW convention in San Antonio, Perry’s backyard, to say: “Career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don’t know how to get us out.”
That’s the message his campaign will carry against Perry: the Texas governor is a government lifer who lived high on the public tab and doesn’t have the private-sector experience necessary to run the country.
“What career politician has done well with the Tea Party?” asked one Romney official.
The danger for Romney, however, is that if they don’t move soon it may be too late to dissuade conservatives from backing Perry.
“In general, most tea party activists are focused on big things, like the country heading in the wrong direction, the debt, or leaving behind a weaker nation than we inherited,” said unaligned GOP strategist Todd Harris. “That’s what matters to them most, and if a candidate is right on those things, activists can be awfully forgiving of everything else. The kinds of attacks that might sink another candidate are written off as just politics as usual and virtually ignored. Once tea party activists line up behind someone, they can be awfully hard to peel off.”
(emphasis added) Continue reading here.
● Mitt Romney is in solid alignment with Tea Party fundamentals. It’s up to us to ‘pop some tops’ because Romney is ready to ‘fizz’.
Contact Tea Party Express to let them know in a friendly way that you’re happy Governor Romney will be part of their ‘Reclaiming America’ bus tour and why he is worth listening to:
Website – http://www.teapartyexpress.org/
Contact – http://www.teapartyexpress.org/contact/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ourcountrypac
Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/ourcountrypac
*Drop a line to Freedom Works, while you’re at it.
Contact – http://www.freedomworks.org/contact
Tweet from Tea Party Express:
All POTUS candidates have open invitation to TPX rallies. We have Bachmann, Romney, Gary Johnson…where is Paul, Cain, Perry, Gingrich etc?less than a minute ago via TweetDeck 
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► Jayde Wyatt
Mitt, if you’ve got dirt on Rick Perry and / or on Freedow Works, you need to use it and you need to use it NOW!
@Marilyn Mitt is a controlled candidate. I’ve been very impressed with the disciplined campaign this time. I want a strong, determined, honorable leader. But I don’t want someone who leads by yelling, ranting, raving, pulling out the 6-shooter, etc.
Mitt isn’t going to traffic in garbage. Truth, yes, but in a disciplined way.
NOW really why I came here………just heard on the radio…..Limbaugh’s manipulation of his “following”. (fyi……I’m not one, just listen to these guys anymore to hear how much they prop up Perry/Palin, etc.) Oh, yes, the convo on tv last night w/G Stefanopoulos and “propping” up Romney…….it’s because they (liberals) are AFRAID of Perry! Not afraid of Romney because they think they can (work him) or something like that. But, Perry…..they are afraid of him! Limbaugh said the caller had it exactly right!! Oh, my!
hahaha…….why should we believe everything that comes out of a liberal media person is a lie……..when we see all of the manipulation/distortion of the “conservative” talk radio guys like Limbaugh, Beck, Levin, etc. ?? Limbaugh’s MOTIVES ——> his wallet!! He props up Palin and Perry…….they are better for his wallet!! Now there’s some truth for ya!
These radio guys that supported Romney the last time…….and now flipflopped. No respect for them.
It would be interesting to see an article on the “conservative” talk radio guys…….comparing last election and this one. Didn’t a number of them support Mitt? Is their job REALLY about helping America……….OR…….helping themselves 1st and foremost??
I think it would be great to get the word out there on THEIR manipulation.
We won’t believe Mitt’s ever been in this for himself, and not for the country — so let Perry surge, if it helps the GOP cope with an LDS Northeasterner. Five months is still a long stretch. While “low-key” may not be necessary, may Romney and his team remember to keep it civil and honest. If he plays dirty now, he’ll play dirty in office; and gaining the world is never worth one’s soul.
Folks believe in the Mitt campaign shop. They will deliver!
I’m conservative, and I’m tired of the “tea party” – why do these wackos even ally with the GOP? Start your own party.
Not to mention, if Perry is such a “tea party darling,” why the hell did the TP run against him in the last election? Perry is everything opposite TP, but they support him – it makes the movement a joke. A former Al Gore-loving Dem/Giuliani endorser is TP material?
https://www.facebook.com/TexansAgainstPerry
Gov. PERRY:
If there is — if there is a better signal of my plans for the future of not running for the presidency of the United States , it’s this book. Anyone running for the presidency is not going to go take on these issues with the power that I do.
VIEIRA:
So you don’t see any scenario where the party may come to you and say, ‘We need you in 2012 ,’ and you would accept?
Gov. PERRY:
I don’t see that scenario at all.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39994237/ns/today-books/
@ccr
I wish their were archived copies of their shows people could analyze for comparison.
I have always been convinced that if Perry got into the race he would be a formidable candidate. I think this surge in the polls is bearing that out. Nevertheless, I think this incessant media drive designed to stampede Romney into an aggressive attack on Perry is rightly being rejected, at least for the time being.
The fact is the national polls are meaningless. What matters is the state by state elections/caucuses, with especial importance attached to the early voting states. Romney is yet leading in New Hampshire, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, and is doing reasonably well in Iowa and South Carolina considering the evangelical distaste for him which is strong in those states. Also important is the fact that the early voting states are not winner take all, so even if Romney loses he can still pick up delegates.
In terms of regions for the long haul, Romney has a clear advantage in the Northeast and West, including the coast. He has a slight advantage in the Midwest, especially in the states that know him and his family well. The only region where he is at a decided disadvantage is the South. The Southern delegates combined are not enough to pull out a win for Perry. I think his strategy is serving him well, and I think he has the best chance to win in the long run.
I attended a rally in Ottumwa, Iowa on the last Saturday of August to listen to Rick Perry speak. Four months ago, I had never even heard of him, so my curiosity got the better of me. He’s an excellent speaker, but I must admit, it sounded like a Mitt Romney speech that I heard in May. I’ve been told that imitation is the best form of flattery, and I was thinking: “Hummm… maybe a good candidate for Vice President”. Then, when it came time to ask questions, a Tea Party member asked Gov. Perry if it was true that he had, in fact, supported, campaigned, and voted for Al Gore. His answer was: “Yes!” and stated that he thought Al Gore was a good, conservative Democrat, but… that was ‘before’ all his nonsense about Global Warming! I heard someone say that he voted for Al Gore because he was from the South, from Tennessee, and the reason he did not vote for Texas Gov. Bush was because George Bush was not a True Southerner. Someone replied, that he’s an avid supporter of the South… which doesn’t make any sense to me, but they continued saying that they didn’t want anyone in the White House whistling ‘Dixie’, especially during our country’s Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War.
Great posting ….Jayde….
I feel Mitt is doing it all just right…I sure think the vetting of Perry is lacking…Talk about baggage…I also feel Mitt was so busy building his team and doing what he knows is critical to success…that he has always been in line with Tea Party Patriots…So..did he need to physically be involved?? I guess this all perplexes me..Freedomworks are defining themselves as not standing for Freedom…if they continue the nonsense……Stop Romney petition…and then protest Mitt from speaking…??? Way off base…and I for one will not support them…ever…
Thanks for the good comments; our readers and I enjoy your insights and opinions.
In all that I read about Perry, I’m struck at the emphasis placed not underestimating him – his ‘bare knuckle’ method of campaigning, etc.
Mitt has gained invaluable experience during his campaigns for office, as well. He knows when to use a ‘velvet glove’ and when to take the glove off.