The news is out that Mitt Romney will be in Salt Lake City next Tuesday to host a fundraiser for his Free and Strong America PAC. As I suspected, gone are the days when you could meet and greet Mitt Romney for an affordable $50 a plate. Prices for this dinner are pegged at $1000 a plate with a VIP reception provided for those who donate the maximum $5000 allowed by law.
Mitt Romney’s schedule is definitely getting busier. I have posted more Romney news today than I usually have done in a week. Are the campaign preliminaries starting to heat up? Is Mitt starting to feel the heat from his competitors? Are those much ballyhooed “low” favorables starting to bother him?
Well, anything is possible, I suppose. Occam’s Razor aficionado that I am, however, I suspect a more prosaic reason:
I read just recently that his upcoming book is finished and is now in the hands of the publisher. So all that time Mitt has been spending working on it is now free. If ever there was a man who hated to waste a single minute, it is Mitt Romney. So what to do to fill that time and burn off that incredible energy he has? What could be better than to get out and press the flesh, raise a little cash, network other Republicans, and get his name, face, and message in the local media?
I suspect we are about to see a bit more of Former Massachusetts State Governor Willard Mitt Romney.
(Now if only someone could just convince him to come to Reno for a nice $50 a plate dinner.) 
September 26th, 2009 at 12:50 am
If John McCain is President of New Hampshire, Mitt Romney is President of Utah
September 26th, 2009 at 12:52 am
MarK, it’s really great to see you back and keeping us updated on Romney movements.
May you be protected from the competition supporter wrath
September 26th, 2009 at 12:59 am
YOu know Mark, surely Romney would be more than eager if he shows up near your place to meet a prominent blog supporter of his. After all, you aren’t just one of the many Romney blog writers that get heard nearly 100% by Romney people. You have a good sized, politically active audience of just about every sort of Republican imaginable on here. That’s something Romney ought to think about reaching
September 26th, 2009 at 1:04 am
The thought has occurred to me, MPC. Trust me on that.
*sigh*
September 26th, 2009 at 1:14 am
The apparent fact that Mitt is going into full-fundraising mode has enormous implications for the race to come, because nobody else in the prospective field will be able to keep up with him. It means that more key people will owe him favors and more people will vie for his attention so they can get favors; his profile will get more imposing; the financial bar for entry into the race will be raised; and the status of his campaign’s viability will be enhanced. Watch out world: Here he comes!
September 26th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Dave,
I have my doubts that he is about to enter “full-fundraising mode” just yet. Mitt will not want to overexpose himself, which can easily happen if he does too much, too soon. That is not to say that he isn’t about to crank it up a notch or two.
September 26th, 2009 at 1:27 am
#6:
It is still way too early for any sort of overt move. At this point in the race, a candidate should be all nudge-nudge and wink-wink about their plans. Trying anything too big or sudden this early will make a candidate look a bit loopy.
September 26th, 2009 at 1:29 am
I’d say the best way to pop up those favorables, and to expand into the small donor base that Romney had only begun to tap last season, is to reach out to folks like us that can’t pay $1000 for some fine dining. I understand things like that need to exist to get a campaign rolling with big donor dollars from the get-go before the smaller amounts can come in, and he wants to avoid being in 100% campaign mode too early, but inviting some bloggers in like yourself and doing some small-scale town hall style meetings would let Mitt go straight to the people.
I think that’s a major strength of populist conservatives like Crist and McCain, as both of them are far more favorably than unfavorably looked upon, and favorability is a key to winning an election. McCain had even or better favorables than Obama for most of 2008 as I recall, and for most of the season, the election was likely for that reason much closer than it should have been for a Republican.
Mitt doesn’t need to be like them per se, but he’d be well advised to reach out to the people more. That’s more important than the big donors, and in ’08 was Mitt’s Achilles heel.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:06 am
It would seem that he wouldn’t want to announce to early and peak when others are still throwing their hats in the ring, and he wouldn’t want to be too late and take the chance of the best campaign workers going to someone else.
I guess timing is everything.
September 26th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Mitt Romney won’t get the nominee in 2012. He is not conservative. Romney didn’t do too well in the South last 2008 primary election. The conservatives will not vote for Romney. If he does get the nominee, the conservatives will stay at home and not vote for him. Romney won’t get my vote. The Republican Party will lose the election and Obama will serve his second term in the White House. (I would like to see Hillary Clinton run against Obama in the 2012 primary election). Palin and Pawlenty might be a good choice for the Republican Party to run in 2012.
September 26th, 2009 at 5:10 am
#6 and #9…You guys jumped the gun.
It’s the perfect time to get into full-time fundraising for 2010 candidates.
If Romney wants to ride in on a tsunami in 2012 he better get busy “making waves” by getting descent GOP folks elected in 2010.
September 26th, 2009 at 5:34 am
#11
I agree with you. You can get left at the starting gate while the other horses have made a clean break and are beginning to stride ahead.
Having said that Mitt is not in a “panic mode” or doesn’t need to be in one at the moment. But a certain amount of activity is expected by someone who is touted as presidential material even this early out.
September 26th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Jerald;
Yeah, I agree with what he’s doing now, the republicans need Romney’s help to get elected in 2010 and he’s the right one to do it.
Not only is Romney able to get his platform out there… he’s able to give interviews and speeches… I was talking about when he should announce he’s running for President.
September 26th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Well, next week is conference. Maybe we’ll see him there at one of the sessons.
September 26th, 2009 at 7:33 am
This time next year Romney will be the “inevitable” nominee. The seeds are being sowed even as we speak.
September 26th, 2009 at 7:41 am
It’s not how you are doing in 2009 that counts, it what you are doing in 2011-2012. One does not want to peak too soon. Desipite what some fools think.
Romney will be the next President of the United States.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
To be successful in the 2012 primaries, Romney needs to follow the ’96 Dole model and consolidate the establishment to overpower all challenges. If Romney can also pivot to transform to “lunchbox Mitt” and co-opt the message of the Tea Party movement then he will be the inevitable nominee. If he fails to connect with the populist anti-establishmentarian trends in the base then his candidacy will implode. The trick (which is no small feat) will be assimilating the establishment and anti-establishment constituencies. Mitt may prove adept at tacking to the base in the primary while the establishment stays quiet in support and then modulate towards the moderate middle in the general. This will be his test and I’m not sure he can pull it off – his father, George Wilcken Romney didn’t.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Taking a slight variation from this thread, doesn’t Alex’s allegation of Mitt questioning our intelligence in Iran look really silly now, just a few days after he was dissing Mitt over it? As I understrand it, our intelligence was bad enough that we had no idea that major nuclear development facility even existed.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:31 am
#18…Well, IGuy, I thought Alex’s little “Mitt Iran gaffe” was silly the moment he pressed the Submit button, but I didn’t want to take the time to rebuff it.
It certainly wasn’t up the usual standards Alex sets when he is thinking and not emoting…
September 26th, 2009 at 8:55 am
17. I don’t recall a President Dole. Was I missing something back a few decades ago?
Mitt only needs to be Mitt. Intelligent, in command of the issues. Smart. Adult.
September 26th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Irv. He can give interviews to even those outside the Fox family too! He’s everywhere, and seems to have a ‘no whine’ policy. I’ve never heard him say the big bad media is against him – even though they are. He deals with it and moves forward. The demo’s will try to destroy Mitt, and might even use Huck again to help. I hope Huck learned his lesson and does not pull his finger again. Problem is, the man is squeeky clean. No women hidden in foreign countries, no rumors of business partner’s wives, etc. He’s Honest business man, with outstanding personal life. Has a wonderful family who has families of their own. All are working, have jobs, homes and supporting families. Not one of his boys are standing around waiting for hand out from dad. If sucess is a gene – the boys got it!
It is rare that the ‘total package’ shows up as it does in Mitt. He’s not a hold your nose and vote for guy. He’s the real deal – and the longer Obama is in the White house, the more we miss Mitt not being there.
September 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Howard dean said Mitt was the man the democrates feared the most. They were quite relieved when McCain got the nomination and even more thrilled when Palin was picked. At that point, McCain lost the election.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:09 am
#4
Exactly my feelings Dave.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Whoa, guys!! Nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about Romney. I am enjoying what I am seeing, too, but let’s not be opening up any Martinelli bottles just yet. It is still a very, very long road to 2012.
As for Thunder’s implication in #16 that the campaign season for 2010 is somewhat separate from the 2011-2012 campaign, I only wished. Any candidate who wants any kind of decent shot in 2012 will have to at least announce an exploratory committee by Groundhog Day 2011. They will NOT wish to be 2012′s Fred Thompson. So if Mitt were to go into “Full Fundraiser Mode” today, that would mean he would remain in that mode for another three years with only about a month lull — maybe two — in November and possibly December 2010. So yes, the danger of overexposure is very real before 2011.
I wouldn’t expect MFFM (Mitt Full Fundraiser Mode) until sometime next year. I do expect to see his activities cranked up a notch or two, however.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:16 am
#10
Anonymous must have a copy and paste text saved on him computer because he says the same thing over and over without expounding. Not even worth responding to.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Mitt is the best choice for republican and the right leader for America,Mitt can beat Obama by landslide in 2012 and Mitt will be a great president.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:26 am
#18 Illinois, John Bolton said the exact same thing Mitt did, regarding our intelligence in Iran, last night on Greta Van Susteran: http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=10035162&referralPlaylistId=df5603c3d11ca9a023b0070cfc5f297e279fd3a7
Is Alex going to try to find fault with Bolton’s “grasp of reality”?
September 26th, 2009 at 10:44 am
No way I can throw down $1,000 for a dinner with anyone, even if it is Romney.
September 26th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Don’t forget about the Sundaes with Mitt event recently. That was very cheap and popular.
September 26th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
29. What the heck happened to the NCNA Townhalls orchestrated by Cantor? Those were certainly free. They got spooked with all the negative press, I guess. I think they’re missing a prime opportunity, with all the public outrage on healthcare and such.
September 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
#21,
“It is rare that the ‘total package’ shows up as it does in Mitt. He’s not a hold your nose and vote for guy.”
If Mitt was the total package, guys like Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck would have noticed it in 08 and would have sung his praises from the roof tops. They all only tentatively endorsed him after Fred and Rudy dropped out.
September 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Yes Competent, I heard him say it too, and thought of Alex immediately.
September 26th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
As I recall, I defended Romney on that score, that NIE was
atrociously bad on purpose, it left out much of Frazadeh’s (their A.Q. Khan) work on projects
110 and 111, this leaves the work
conducted in Qum and probably other sites out of mind. Now one of the reasons I can’t stand Huckabee is that he played the
‘Mormon card” with annoying
frequency, stirring up an issue that had been settled some time in the 1880s. This gave Newsweek entree to bring it up as well. As for Romney it’s initial drawbacks were expanded by Patrick to a roaring chasm. It does seem rightly or wrongly that his following seems to want to drive conservatives from the public square on a whole host of social issues, to hear from Frum, Noonan, Brooks, Parker et al. Now
frankly I suggest that most everyone can contribute to a Republican resurgence. The prevailing political winds, in the
last eight months, might have at first suppressed any real judgement on the unfitness of this
Administration’s policies and that
of it’s legislative cohort. Until
the teaparties and the townhall that seemed to be the dominant
impression in elected office,
September 26th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Mr. Economy Romney in 2012!
September 30th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
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