A nice Boston Globe profile of Romney’s post-presidential-run actions.
Just before Thanksgiving last year, a group of former aides to Mitt Romney convened at his salmon-colored Belmont home, many of them gathering for the first time since Romney had disbanded his presidential campaign some nine months before. Romney had invited them for a post-mortem of the election weeks earlier, the type of dispassionate assessment that the Harvard Business School alumnus so enjoyed. But over cookies, they found few of the metrics for success that Romney prized — Republicans had been decisively thumped at all levels — and his attention shifted from 2008 to the future.
“He was not bringing people together to second-guess,” says Alex Gage, a former campaign strategist who continues to informally advise Romney. “It was not a lot of retrospectives or recriminations or mistakes. I think in his mind he’s thought it through.”
Romney was encouraged by the contents of a fat three-ring binder he brandished for his guests. He leafed through the pages to show dozens of thank you notes and photos — from Republican candidates for whom Romney had campaigned and raised money around the country — and passed the binder around his living room so that each of his advisers could linger over it. “He just talked about all the friends he made and people he met along the way,” recalls Kevin Madden, who had been Romney’s campaign spokesman. “The idea was: It’s not for nothing. We were actually helping people. Take a look at how thankful they were.”
During his long presidential campaign, Romney — the reformed Massachusetts moderate with the salesman’s too-perfect touch — had struggled to earn a welcome into a conservative movement whose members were often suspicious of his motives. The plastic sleeves in the binder held the good news to emerge from his experience trying to win them over: typed or handwritten confirmation that hard work and collegiality meant something in politics.
People who asked Romney what he would do once his presidential campaign was over say the former businessman and one-term Massachusetts governor did not flinch: He wanted to keep his hand in politics. For more than a year, Romney has done so with the same competitiveness and discipline that has marked nearly every challenge he has taken on in his life, from his foreign assignment as a Mormon missionary and career as a management consultant and founder of Bain Capital to his stewardship of the Salt Lake City Olympics and campaigns for senator, governor, and president.
Read the whole thing. H/t heath.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Mitt Romney won’t get the nominee in 2012. He is not conservative. Romney is so liberal. He is hurting the Republican Party. That why he lost the 2008 primary election.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Mitt Romney will be the nominee he is conservative on both economic and social issues, Huckabee is only conservative on social issues. Palin is already a proven loser being part of the losing ticket in 2008 and is thrashed by Obama in the polls. Mitt will win New Hampshire, Nevada and then Florida and most of the big states, California, New York, Illinois and Michigan plus the North East Upper Mid West and West Coast and most of the Mountain West and Plains States. He will be one of the most qualified GOP presidential candidates in US history and we will have an intelligent Ivy League grad and a successful governor of Massachusets who made a fortune on Wall Street to carry our banner against Obama!
August 30th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Pawlenty sets out criteria for making his big decision
On the national scene, Gov. Tim Pawlenty admits most people don’t know him. But he continues to test his message.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/55954237.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUJ
August 30th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Mitt Romney all the way! He is the only clear thinking, problem solving, common sense candidate amongst the whole bunch. The rest are self serving political hacts, only to serve their own political agendas with no real vision for the country. Go Mitt! And anonymous, are you a retard?
August 30th, 2009 at 9:48 am
How did I know anonymous would post something?
August 30th, 2009 at 10:22 am
This was a very intriguing article. It exhibits many of the things that makes me support Mitt so strongly.
And coming from the Boston Globe too.
It was very interesting to learn that Romney will not cooperate with any reporting that touching on him running in 2012.
Intriguing….
Thanks Matthew and Heath for posting this article.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Mitt Romney is a CFR shill just like most of the traders in National politics at the Federal Level. We will never get our country back until we get rid of puppets like him. Drop the right left paradigm and shun the main stream media brain washing to save our nation. Council of Foreign relations is a puppet organization run by the global banking elite and their interests. Wake up before it is to late.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Rasmussen: President Obama Job Approval
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
This is the highest percentage of voters to strongly disapprove of the job Obama has done as president since coming into office.
For the sake of comparison, here are GWB’s approval index numbers from his last full month in the White House:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/president_bush_job_approval
August 30th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Yes but GWB had 13% strongly approve, Obama has 32%. The 42% will almost all be McCain-Palin voters.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
#1 has no vision to look who is the real leader,he just say for himself,he doesn’t care about the country,and no ideas to say,why she/he said same word all the time and will say in his life time,but America really need Mitt come to rescue America for America,they don’t want Mr. Obama change America to Kenya any more.
#2 is right,so we all will belong to the right man,will rally with the right leader,will support the track record leader,and then Mitt will beat Obama by landslide in 2012,so Mitt will in the oval office in 2013,and Obama can take vacation to Kenya to clean his dirty message over there.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Did you see that he had a ticket for JetBlue? I wonder how often he flies commercial?
August 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
http://digg.com/political_opinion/The_Long_Distance_Runner_The_Boston_Globe
August 30th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
it will be a wide open race with Romney and Palin as co-frontrunners, Pawlenty, Thune, Bush, Perry and Gingrich as second tier, and no-chancers like Bachmann, Johnson, and Santorum to waste our time.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Dick, #1 is a woman named Mary…just leave her alone, she’ll come home, wagging her tail behind her.
This sure was a long article..and a very balanced one.
One thing that struck me is the content of his text message to the group: ““In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,” It seems he has a little of the Glenn Beck vision even back then.
Could the Pawlenty shills please spare us all the postings and pastings until he breaks through the 3% barrier. I really don’t want to have to be fighting the battles against someone currently irrelevant.
Mike, CFR shill? What the heck are you talking about? Mitt IS NOT A CFR member! For your information, the LDS faith believes the U.S. Constitution is devinely inspired.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Swint….I’m sure he flies commercial quite often, considering the fact his kids tell how he would get on them for leaving the light on in the bathroom! lol
August 30th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
13 – if Bush runs, which I doubt will happen, he would be first tier.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
14 – part of getting Pawlenty through the 3 percent barrier will involve lots of positive articles, they aren’t going to stop just because he’s not well known. He’s got time to improve those numbers before the real campaigning starts in 2 years or so. I think he’ll be a formidable opponent but I also think Mitt’s in it to win it, has only learned and improved from the last campaign, and in the end Pawlenty won’t be able to stop him.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
#14
“Could the Pawlenty shills please spare us all the postings and pastings until he breaks through the 3% barrier. I really don’t want to have to be fighting the battles against someone currently irrelevant.”
Then don’t fight them. Many of us on here probably felt the same way about Romney when he was polling 1-2% last time. We’re not going to censor ourselves based on the annoyance of a few highly obsessed Rombots.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
And, IL-guy, if you’re concerned with wasting your time, why are you responding to Mike?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
If you want to get an idea of how well organized Romney supporters are, find the link in Race’s blogroll for Planet Romney, and when you get there check out the Romney websites to the right. Some of these are in hiatus now or semi-active, but all are just waiting for the campaign to begin. It’s amazing how many of them have remained active this long after the last campaign ended. Next time we go all the way.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
With the Kennedy’s in the news there are some interesting (all be it imperfect) parallels to the Romney saga. Just as the Kennedys had their powerful patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, who coveted but ultimately failed to attain the Presidency, the Romneys have George Wilcken Romney who wished his son, Mitt to succeed where George failed. Romney has been groomed for this office since his youth and Mass. would serve as the launch pad for both the Kennedy and Romney proteges. Romney has the burden of the Presidency placed on him by his Father and also the burden of becoming the first Mormon President just as it was Joe Kennedy’s goal for Jack to break the Catholic barrier. It will be most interesting to see if Mitt will atone his Father’s loss.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I thought it pretty amazing that Foxnews never, ever showed a glimpse of Mitt yesterday. They were showing every rinky dink Senator, but not the former governor. SOmebody had to have given them direction on that.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Doug, Mitt was never at 1% or 2% from the time they starting polling for 2008!
August 30th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
“SOmebody had to have given them direction on that.”,
I think it was the CFR.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
JA, I don’t believe Romney was “groomed” for the presidency from his youth. I also don’t think there is much parallel between Joseph Kennedy ( A man with a deeply flawed character) and George Romney.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Matthew,
Thank you for posting this article. It does a nice job of explaining why this man is the best current hope for the GOP, and for America. There’s others out there who may be adequate – such as Pawlenty, but none seem to be the right man for the right moment as much as Romney.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
23:
Yeah he was. I remember the polls.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
#23 I’m afraid that’s not the truth. I wish you’d not say things that are easily googled and proved false.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/poll_061605.pdf
Romney got below 3% in the polls in at least 8 polls in 2005-2006.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I didn’t know we were talking about a time frame before he was known to be a candidate.
In Pawlenty’s case, it’s obvious he is running. I was talking from the time Mitt announced.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
“Could the Pawlenty shills please spare us all the postings and pastings until he breaks through the 3% barrier. I really don’t want to have to be fighting the battles against someone currently irrelevant.”
Illinoisguy, if you want people to take a second look at Romney, you have to stop talking the way that you do. You insult people.
If Huckabee does not run, my second choice right now is Pawlenty. And I do believe that he has a good chance of moving up in the polls and up in the tiers.
Maybe that is why you wrote what you did, maybe you are worried that Pawlenty is going to ruin Mitt’s last chance to win the nomination. Afterall, many of the conservative talk show hosts are talking positively about Pawlenty. And in fact, I have seen Pawlenty on Foxnews more often than I have seen Romney. Pawlenty has been out there talking about healthcare and setting the stage for his entrance into the 2012 race.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Gee, Doug, don’t you know what the rules are? For Romney, it counts from the day he announced — for Pawlenty it counts from the day IL-guy says “it’s obvious he’s running.”
Here you are, unfairly trying to compare polls that were three years out from the 2008 election to polls that are three years out from the 2012 election. Clearly that’s not fair.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Just to set the record straight, I never remember Romney below 3% but it’s really irrelevant now. He’s No.1 now and that’s all that matters.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Governor Mitt Romney, is what we need
for our country. A man of integrity,
a man who LOVES AMERICA and has MADE A
DIFFERENCE!
Governor Romney HAS THE EXPERIENCE,IS A LEADER, and can get our economy back on track – getting good paying jobs and keeping AMERICA STRONG! HE is our FUTURE!
August 30th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Governor Mitt Romney, is what we need
for our country. A man of integrity,
a man who LOVES AMERICA and has MADE A
DIFFERENCE!
Governor Romney HAS THE EXPERIENCE,IS A LEADER, and can get our economy back on track – getting good paying jobs and keeping AMERICA STRONG! HE is our FUTURE!
August 30th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Illinois guy was a little over the top today, but I’m what he wrote didn’t exactly come out the way he intended.
We welcome information on T-Paw and are glad to have it posted here. IGuy was probably just irritated that the attempted treadjacking.
Anyway, this was a fine article about Mitt.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Maybe I should proof read…..
Illinois guy was a little over the top today, but I’m sure what he wrote didn’t exactly come out the way he intended.
We welcome information on T-Paw and are glad to have it posted here. IGuy was probably just irritated about the attempted treadjacking.
Anyway, this was a fine article about Mitt.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Pawlenty is boring and can’t and won’t be the nominee in 2012. He has nothing to say on health care or anything else. He should go home and apply for an ambulance chasing job.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
If Romney was 2% in the polls back in February 07, look how hard he worked to come in 2nd behind McCain in a very crowded field, now he is considered one of the most powerful Republican leaders.
From what I see of Pawlenty, he doesn’t have the same energy or drive that Romney had, at least so far anyway.
I just hope that the next primary Republicans can stick to the issues like the economy, national security, terrorism, the deficits, fixing schools and health care. Instead of the foolishness that drove the Republican primary last time, like the nonsense about Rudy and was he a good enough Catholic and where and how he met his wife, and Mitt and his Mormonism and asking him to explain for the hundredth time how he felt about abortion, and look what they did to Fred and his wife. It was not a shinning moment for the Republican party. The only ones not personally touched were Huckabee and McCain.
I really can’t remember anything other than the war in Iraq being an issue. Immigration was only an issue when Tancrado was still in, and stopped being an issue when he dropped out except when it was time to accuse Romney of hiring illegal gardeners. And anytime the economy came up, Huckabee and McCain would stop the debate by insinuating that Romney was a greedy businessman.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I appreciate the hard work Aron does in posting links, but every time something favorable is posted for Mitt, he runs out and finds an article to jack the thread with. It just gets irritating. Mitt deserves more.
Pawlenty is McCain light. He supported McCain from the get-go. The Minnesota caucus voters didn’t agree with their governor, and voted heavily for Mitt. I’m not sure Pawlenty will beat Mitt in Minnesota’s caucus.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
The memory of Romney patriarch, George Wilcken Romney and his failed campaign of 68 will weigh heavy on the young Romney in 2012 as he recalls his Father’s plan for his ascension to the Presidency. Many others have buckled under such pressure as the protege of a potent Patriarch prefiguring his plan for political power and prestige – Ted Kennedy and Al Gore come to mind.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
JA Pruce;
40;
Ted Kennedy and Al Gore were career politicians, Romney actually was a success in private business.
You guys are sounding really jealous, you don’t even know.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Huh, so George Romney groomed his son to get into politics in his mid-50s with an expectation of becoming president.
C’mon guys, Mitt’s only political experience in his father’s lifetime came from helping his family in a couple campaigns and managing to lose to Ted Kennedy by only 17 points.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:47 am
#40: JA Pruce……come on guy, you need to take a break from the afternoon soaps……..
The truth as told by the people who knew George Romney is that losing the ’68 GOP nomination was not a problem for him. He didn’t even grouse about the ridiculous news reporting that did him in (I would have been grousing and squawking like mad).
You know, I’m glad that his son, Mitt, wants to learn from his dad’s experience. That’s smart in my book. I’m also glad that Mitt wants to contribute to society through politics. What’s wrong with that? If a candidate doesn’t think he/she has something valuable to offer us, what the heck are they running for?
I read something interesting today…..even with all his wealth he got from dad, Ted Kennedy always cashed his check from the taxpayers…..but Romney never took a dime as governor and pledged to work for free as President as well.
Dreaming up some psychotic hang up that drives Mitt Romney to run for the presidency is entirely relying on character assignation more becoming of a liberal. But, hey, after the 2008 GOP primaries what should we expected? Republicans talking about policy issues? Personal performance? Naw……..that’s just no soapy enough…..
August 31st, 2009 at 8:30 am
JA. None of the other Romney’s are into poltiics. so, your ‘theory’ of a Kennedy-type dynasty falls well short of reality.