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An Early Massachusetts Primary

The Campaign For Mr. Right

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

National Review Online Column

January 10, 2007

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Dwight Duncan, one of the Brownback endorsers, told NRO last week that the contention that Romney is to blame for the state of marriage in Massachusetts is really “over the top.” According to Duncan, a professor at the Southern New England School of Law, “On the whole, [Romney] has been consistent in defending marriage as traditionally understood. Furthermore, his use of the bully pulpit and the courts has been unquestionably instrumental in getting the legislature to finally fulfill its constitutional duty and vote on the citizen-initiated constitutional amendment regarding marriage. …”

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, agrees: “When people ask how we can support such a switch, I ask if they ever question Teddy Kennedy’s or John Kerry’s switches from pro-life to pro-choice.”

Mineau is among those Massachusetts social conservatives who are grateful to have had Romney in the statehouse….” According to Mineau, “For the four years of his administration, Governor Romney provided strong leadership on key conservative social issues — whether it was politically expedient to do so or not.” He tells National Review Online, “I believe Mitt Romney has done an excellent job in defending traditional family values in Massachusetts despite an extremely hostile legislature and judiciary, not to mention an attorney general and secretary of state who both opposed everything the governor stood for.”

It’s a view echoed by Marie Sturgis, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, who says, “Having Governor Romney in the corner office for the last four years has been one of the strongest assets the pro-life movement has had in Massachusetts. His actions concerning life issues have been consistent and he has been helpful down the line for us in the Bay State.”

Mineau adds, “From the onset of the infamous Goodridge court decision in 2003, Governor Romney has opposed same-sex marriage and, I believe, correctly sought to overturn it through a constitutional amendment. …”

Mineau directly credits Romney with getting the state legislature to vote on a constitutional amendment on gay marriage earlier this month. He explains, “The court unanimously ruled on December 27 that the legislature was constitutionally obligated to vote. This ruling, coupled with the governor threatening to not sign the end-of-year legislative pay raise, resulted in the legislature passing the amendment on January 2nd, the last day of the session. This could never have happened without Governor Romney’s leadership.”

Mineau is among the signatories of a letter expected to be released on Thursday by a coalition of “organizations dedicated to fighting for the pro-family agenda in Massachusetts.” … Among those signing the letter are Harvard University law professor Mary Ann Glendon (who also serves as the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in Rome).

An accompanying brief by constitutional lawyer David French, a founder of the group Evangelicals for Mitt (French also writes for NRO’s “Phi Beta Cons” blog), is a longer defense of the governor’s social-conservative cred. In the beginning of a six-page document French asserts: “In the midst of Governor Romney’s efforts to rescue his state from a fiscal crisis and create lasting and innovative health care solutions, activist judges and a far-left legislature forced issues of same-sex ‘marriage,’ abortion, religious liberty, stem cell research, and gay rights into the forefront. Each time he was challenged, the Governor not only made the conservative choice, but also did so with an optimistic, unifying message. In doing so, he became a national leader on these vital cultural issues without squandering his ability to govern the Commonwealth.” …

OR….

The Choice is Yours!

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential Republican candidate for president, is lining up support in Alabama, with State Treasurer Kay Ivey serving as state chair of his exploratory committee.

“As we build our national campaign, she will be instrumental in communicating my vision to the people of Alabama,” Romney said in statement Wednesday announcing her selection.

Ivey, a 62-year-old veteran of statehouse politics, will be sworn in Monday for her second term as state treasurer.

She said Romney “is a true conservative” and she was impressed by “his record of making government more responsive to the people.”

Romney was active in Alabama’s campaigns last year, with his Commonwealth Political Action Committee making $143,500 in contributions to candidates and political organizations.

Alabama has moved up its 2008 presidential preference primary from June to February, which means the state is seeing more presidential activity than in past years. Several potential candidates have already visited the state, and Romney is scheduled to speak to the State Republican Executive Committee on Feb. 9 in Montgomery.

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Boots in Bagdad is a great blog about the war in Iraq ran by Mark Partridge Miner. “Boots” endorsed Romney today. Here is what he said:

On September 11, 2001 the United States stood at a crossroad and pursued a path of resolve and self preservation. America is at a phase in that course where leadership will make the difference between sustainment and subversion. Our most trying and challenging times have yet to come. The American people need more than ever a disciplined and principled leader who can lead with extraordinary odds placed against them. Our future will entail challenges we cannot comprehend. We are waging a war of ideology against a fluid and relentless enemy.

I believe without reservation that Governor Mitt Romney is that leader. Governor Romney has a proven record of executive leadership. He has proven his abilities to build consensus and execute.

Check out the blog, it has some great photos of Iraq, and some interesting commentary.

Boston, MA – Governor Mitt Romney, in direct consideration of the proposed increase in troop deployments in Iraq, issued the following statement today putting an emphasis on the need for clear and measurable strategic objectives.

“I agree with the President: Our strategy in Iraq must change. Our military mission, for the first time, must include securing the civilian population from violence and terror. It is impossible to defeat the insurgency without first providing security for the Iraqi people. Civilian security is the precondition for any political and economic reconstruction.

“In consultation with Generals, military experts and troops who have served on the ground in Iraq, I believe securing Iraqi civilians requires additional troops. I support adding five brigades in Baghdad and two regiments in Al-Anbar province. Success will require rapid deployment.

“This effort should be combined with clear objectives and milestones for U.S. and Iraqi leaders.

“The road ahead will be difficult but success is still possible in Iraq. I believe it is in America’s national security interest to achieve it.”

“National Call Day” Web Video is up at www.mittromney.com

…Napoleon Dynamite Style

Available Here

No, not THAT Mr. Dean… Dean Barnett

The big surprise is that as far as the right wing portion of the media primary is concerned, Mitt Romney has already won. I know a lot of people wonder how this has happened. How did an obscure blue-state governor so strike the fancy of conservative pundits?

I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Mitt Romney is an exceptionally impressive man. It is very difficult to spend any time with him and not come away charmed. It is even more difficult to spend time with him and come away unimpressed. In addition to being almost preternaturally affable and engaging, Romney also has what lawyers like to call electric intelligence. For reasons that don’t require much elaboration, this is a characteristic that the Republican electorate currently hungers for. Desperately.

In short, Romney is smarter than the average bear. Admittedly in politics this isn’t much of a feat. While politicians as a class are articulate and charming, they tend to lack intellectual curiosity and intellectual rigor. It’s not that they seek simple solutions to complex problems. Were that only the case.

In truth, they seek to attack complex problems by delivering mindless but effective sound bytes. Think of an example, any example: Religion of Peace, Two Americas, Culture of Corruption, Support the Troops, Don’t Escalate – all of these are examples of labeling a problem with the hope that the labeling substitutes for actually engaging the problem. On the political level, it usually works. In terms of getting anything productive done, it’s reliably an abysmal failure.

Romney’s different. He spent a business career mastering difficult fact patterns and figuring out what to do. Simple sloganeering was never an alternative to effective action. As proof of his acumen in this regard, there are numerous businesses that he helped build (Staples, Domino’s) and a vast personal fortune.

THE QUESTION WAS, Would the Romney way be effective in politics? As a politician, would he be just another guy, or would he continue to be the innovator that he was in the private sphere. Yesterday, his political competitors got some bad news on the front.

In a unique fundraising event that combined lots of modern-day viral marketing with a smidgeon of old fashioned phone-banking, the Romney campaign raised over $6.5 million. There has never been anything comparable to it in American politics. Although the money primary is just beginning, Mitt Romney looks like he’s going win that one as handily as he won the right-wing media primary.

But it’s not just about the money. Under no circumstances would Mitt Romney’s campaign lack for funds. If he wanted to, he could probably self-finance a presidential run with the loose change in between his sofa cushions.

What yesterday shows is that the Romney campaign, like his business career, will be marked by innovation. The Romney campaign won’t be relying on techniques that were moldy back when David Letterman was actually funny. Nor will it just trod the road that Joe Trippi and the Howard Dean campaign paved in 2004.

As he has done throughout his career, Mitt Romney will build a better mousetrap. While John Edwards delivers speeches that sound like they were ripped from Huey Long’s playbook, Barack Obama ponders his future and John McCain defends McCain/Feingold, Mitt Romney will run a 21^st century campaign that will leave his rivals looking like the antiquated relics of yesterday’s politics that they are.