Romney meets GOP activists in return to Mich. roots
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[Commentary]
Romney heads to Mackinac Island for a meeting of Michigan Republicans, it should be a wonderful opportunity for him and his Presidential aspirations.
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | September 24, 2005
Governor Mitt Romney’s visit to Michigan today will be his fifth out-of-state trip in 12 days. All have connections to a potential presidential bid, but none may be as overt as today’s return to the state he once called home.
Romney will arrive at Mackinac Island for a day of politicking with 1,500 Republican activists, building on the groundwork of $67,000 in contributions his political action committee made to 76 Republican candidates and party committees in the state since August 2004.
None of the other possible presidential candidates for 2008 has been nearly as active with such targeted PAC support in the Great Lakes State.
And none has the Romney name: the late George W. Romney, Mitt Romney’s father, is still remembered fondly as the three-term governor of the state in the 1960s and G. Scott Romney, his brother, sits on the Michigan State University board of trustees, a statewide elected position.
Key members of Romney’s political team have deep Michigan ties, including chief strategist Michael E. Murphy, who grew up outside Detroit and advised former governor John Engler, and Trent Wisecup, a veteran GOP operative in Michigan, who oversees Romney’s political action committees and will accompany the governor this weekend.
Romney’s advisers have long considered Michigan to be central to any theory of victory if Romney decides to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. His attendance at the 26th biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference is his third visit this year to Michigan, traditionally an important test in the GOP presidential nominating contest.
As with all Romney’s increasingly frequent excursions, aides say the Michigan trip has nothing to do with 2008. Julie Teer, Romney’s press secretary, said he is attending the conference in his capacity as vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
”Governor Romney is invited by a number of organizations around the country to speak, and he was asked by the Michigan Republican Party to come to Michigan this weekend to help energize Michigan Republicans for a very competitive gubernatorial race in 2006,” said Teer, a native of East Lansing and former press secretary to Spencer Abraham, the Michigan Republican who served one term in the US Senate.
But the early activity in Michigan fits a pattern for Romney in other key states. His PAC also gave thousands of dollars to GOP committees in Iowa. As with Iowa, a trusted aide has been doing advance work for Romney in Michigan, setting up meetings with politicians. Romney’s other PACs in South Carolina and Arizona have handed out smaller amounts to local candidates and party committees.
At Mackinac Island, Romney has a busy day scheduled. He will be featured speaker at a luncheon in the Grand Hotel, attend a reception with party leaders, and headline a fund-raiser for a GOP challenge in one of the state’s 15 congressional districts.
Romney has also scheduled interviews with the chief political writers of Detroit’s two daily newspapers, said Teer, who will accompany Romney on the trip.
Accentuating the Michigan emphasis in Romney’s recent political itinerary, on Wednesday he attended a Washington luncheon to honor the late Max Fisher, the chief fund-raiser for George Romney more than three decades ago. Fisher died in March at age 96. Romney underscored his links to his father’s old allies and the importance of Jewish Republicans to the GOP.
”Max was a person who realized that the Jewish community was fundamentally Republican at heart and that, as they understood what the Republican Party really represented, . . . they would move toward that party,” Romney said in an interview, noting that he once dated Fisher’s daughter and is close to the family.
The luncheon followed three other trips last week, when he delivered speeches in the capital and spoke in New York City to a conservative group and a gathering of prominent GOP fund-raisers. Last weekend, he hosted a fund-raiser for New Hampshire Republicans at his lakefront vacation home in Wolfeboro, N.H.
In Michigan, Romney’s stated emphasis will be on next year’s gubernatorial race, even though any political activity here would pay dividends in a presidential bid. Republicans have high hopes that wealthy businessman Dick DeVos, son of the cofounder of Amway Corp., can oust Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, next year. Romney’s Massachusetts campaign committee will pay the travel expenses of the governor and his wife, Ann, according to Teer.
Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan GOP, said the party invites all those mentioned as possible presidential contenders as part of an effort to rev up the activists.
”This is one of the early events nationwide with large exposure,” he said.
As incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association, a major source of support for Republican gubernatorial candidates, Romney was a natural to attend, Anuzis said. ”This is one of the key races,” he said.
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson are also expected to attend events on Mackinac, Anuzis said.
Earlier this year, Romney was the featured attraction at a March fund-raiser for the Michigan GOP’s state Senate committee and in June held a day of political meetings during his trip to a reunion at his high school.
At Mackinac, Romney will be something of a known quantity to the party faithful.
”Governor Romney has had different things in his career widely reported back in Michigan,” said Dennis Cowan, Republican party chairman in Oakland County, the state’s second most populous after adjacent Wayne County (Detroit). ”His dad was a very popular governor, and the Romney name still resonates strongly here.”
John Rakolta Jr., chief executive of Michigan’s largest construction firm and a major Republican fund-raiser in Michigan, contributed $5,000 to his PAC in Michigan. (The largest donor, at $10,750, was Jon Huntsman of Salt Lake City, father of Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah.)
Rakolta is the former brother-in-law of Scott Romney. ”I knew George Romney and loved George, but I think Mitt’s better than his father,” Rakolta said. ”George could be stubborn, but I view Mitt as more open-minded and pragmatic.”
George Romney, also famed in Michigan for reviving the fortunes of American Motors Corp. before becoming governor, abandoned a bid for the Republican presidential nomination before the New Hampshire primary in 1968 and later served in the Nixon Cabinet. He died in 1995.
Despite Romney’s gold-plated name in Michigan politics and the continuing activity of family members, Rakolta said: ”I don’t think there’s any remnants of a Romney machine in the state.”
”There’s a lot of reverence in the state of Michigan for the Romney family,” said state Senator Mike Bishop of Rochester, assistant majority leader in the GOP-controlled upper chamber. ”His brother Scott is a very well-known attorney, active in the party, and someone many thought would run for governor at some point.”
Scott Helman of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
