MASON CITY, Iowa ? The events start when they?re supposed to. The candidate says what he?s supposed to. The staff does what it?s supposed to.
To watch the Mitt Romney operation in action is to see Swiss precision applied to the campaign trail and it helps explain how he finds himself contending for victory in Iowa, a state he ignored for much of the campaign.
Continue ReadingFor Romney, monotony is the mission. And the mission is regularly accomplished.
Take Thursday?s appearance at a museum honoring the creator of the Broadway hit, ?The Music Man.? At exactly 12:25 p.m., the very minute he was advertised to begin his event, the former Massachusetts governor charged through the waiting crowd to the sound of his campaign?s theme song, ?Born Free.?
While the Kid Rock number ever-present on the Romney circuit touts a character ?wild, like an untamed stallion,? the front-running presidential candidate is anything but. His events routinely start on time and are meticulously stage-managed. He remains straightjacketed to his economic message and has been distraction free.
Even Romney?s wardrobe is the same day after day. Skinny jeans, a brown belt and loafers and a white dress shirt, buttoned at the sleeves but not at the collar.
That consistency and discipline, practiced across all levels of the campaign, stands out in an unruly and chaotic nominating contest that has seen one candidate after another rise and fall, victims of their own ineptitude or inability to stand up to relentless pressures and distraction of the modern presidential campaign. No one ever asks if Romney is a serious candidate, or if his campaign is about anything other than running for president.
While his rivals have struggled with the basics of punctuality, logistics and drawing crowds, Romney?s professional advance operation has thrived, producing finely tuned events that go off without a hitch.
Romney?s aides reject the notion that they are running a boring campaign, designed to minimize turbulence, and point to capacity crowds ? that they have expertly engineered ? as evidence of growing momentum. Romney?s Iowa director, Dave Kochel, said the turnout at events has been several times the number of people who RSVP?d with the campaign.
Even those overflow crowds ? large and enthusiastic as they have been ? have managed to avoid creating speed bumps. Not once in Iowa this week did a voter ask about Romney?s Massachusetts health care law conservatives so abhor. No Iowa voter this week asked him a remotely difficult question.
And so it was that when an 8-year-old boy asked Romney here if it is ?hard to run for the president,? and Romney confirmed that it is, it served as such a stark departure from the norm that the item appeared in virtually every report filed from the event.
Throughout the campaign, Romney has produced campaign surrogates who have advanced the cause by delivering crisp, repeatable four-to-six minute introductions while hitting on the campaign?s broad themes. Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois four times on Thursday delivered exactly the same speech stressing Romney?s electability.
Earlier this month in South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley three times delivered the same remarks about her frustrations in dealing with the federal government.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Romney?s most high-profile surrogate, deviated slightly off course Friday morning, warning a West Des Moines crowd that he?d ?be back, Jersey-style? if Romney is disappointed on caucus night.
Christie?s slight, cheeky departure from script paled, however, next to the gaffes committed by Rick Perry?s surrogates. Earlier this week, the Texan was introduced as the ?governor of California? by a local state senator and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio committed the unpardonable sin of referring to the University of Iowa football team as the ?Buckeyes.?
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