Mitt Romney Returns To Iowa With Leaner Organization Ahead Of 2012

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican Mitt Romney is returning to Iowa to begin what his aides promise will be a leaner campaign for the state's leadoff nominating caucuses than the expensive juggernaut he assembled here in his 2008 race.

The former Massachusetts governor plans to officially announce his second bid for the presidency next week in New Hampshire, the state around which he's built his 2012 strategy.

That formality comes as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum prepares to enter the race in the coming days, and as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann signaled she likely would do the same next month in Waterloo, where she was born. At the same time, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is launching an East Coast bus tour starting Sunday, a move that's fueling speculation that she, too, is preparing for a run.

Romney, for his part, is making his first trip to Iowa this year on Friday, with plans to visit a suburban Des Moines technology firm and address a business group in the capital city.

The topic is in keeping with what aides say will be a campaign more focused on a national economic message, and less focused on appealing specifically to Republican activists in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Romney has rethought his Iowa plans after his second-place finish in the caucuses during his 2008 bid for the GOP nomination. He spent millions in the state only to be beaten late in the campaign by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a stricter social conservative who appealed to the Christians who form the backbone of the Iowa GOP caucus base.

Romney has said he plans to campaign in Iowa and field a staff ahead of the 2012 caucuses.

He unveiled a team of key Iowa backers Thursday led by a former state party chairman and planned to meet in eastern Iowa Friday with supporters from counties where he won in 2008. Romney also spoke briefly with Iowa's Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, Monday, another sign he is not forsaking the leadoff state, as some observers suggested he would.

But aides would not say whether Romney planned to compete in the Iowa Republican Party's presidential straw poll, a traditionally big pre-caucus event planned for mid-August. Romney spent heavily to organize en route to winning the straw poll in August 2007.

The New York Times points out:

Mr. Romney may, however, have to confront his own words. Four years ago, when [John] McCain and [Rudy] Giuliani declined to actively participate in Iowa and its August straw poll, Mr. Romney delivered lectures on the importance of adhering to the traditions that have helped vet presidential candidates for years.

"If you can’t compete in Iowa in August, how are you going to compete in January when the caucuses are held?” Mr. Romney said as he and his wife, Ann, and their five sons blanketed the state four years ago. “And how are you going to compete in November?”

Some influential GOP activists have said Romney should reconsider his less aggressive Iowa approach since several Republicans with stronger social conservative profiles than Romney are expected to run, leaving him an opening with pro-business conservatives.

 

 

Comments

[foreverdemocrat]

11:37 PM on 05/29/2011

With the insane number of belly-flops, back-flips, flim-flamming, moon-walking, and half-stepping this Romney has managed to put together, I'd be more than surprised if the GOP electorate gives this man the nod to the general election.

It would say a lot about the GOP party, overall. Yes, indeed.

[CrookWatch]

04:34 AM on 05/28/2011

Oops! Flip-flop. Romney has always said whatever is politically expedient at the time. Remind you of another shoot from the hip immature cowboy president?

[PublicCitizen21044]

12:35 PM on 05/27/2011

Romney is so disingenuine that even he cannot keep up with all of his various repositioning statements from the past. He should just declare himself as a do over candidate and make claim to the same policy positions as all of the other GOP lockstep candidates for POTUS. He is still going to catch hell for his religious background and for RomneyCare so why not just put a new face on the past by just declaring the past null and void and declaring oneself as the right candidate for the 21st century. Think you can spin that bottle towards the voters and get them to play the game with you Mitt? You never know since emotions over logic is the art of politics and I have seen some very emotionally disturbed GOP ers lately.

[DrObvious]

12:30 PM on 05/27/2011

With Palin and Bachmann both fussing about being president, Romney knows he's toast compared to those two evangelical Christian extremists - Iowa is their feedlot, and they'll fatten up on publicity and conservative cash, while Romney tries to explain how Mormon is a valid belief in a country with freedom of religion when he's not denying his role in Romneycare in Massachusetts

[Rachel Slur]

12:24 PM on 05/27/2011

why doesn't the GOP just drop the crazies and run the wig collection.

[CoronaDischarge]

12:14 PM on 05/27/2011

Rut Roh. Poor Romney ... curse the invention of video replay. The Flipster skewered with his words. Looks like he will turn himself into a pincushion by the time he concedes that the time isn't right for his candidacy.

[eva belle]

12:03 PM on 05/27/2011

Erm, which way is the wind blowing today?

[Al91206]

12:03 PM on 05/27/2011

His hair will never tell.

[Al91206]

11:52 AM on 05/27/2011

What has happened to our presidential races when getting into the race was an important and vital step to becoming our new president. Now it's just a hodgepodge of nuts and loons who want their face in the news. Too bad the news follows them at all.

[tangelan]

11:42 AM on 05/27/2011

And here I thought the GOP presidential race wasn't going to be as insane as I was hoping. Come, on Sarah and Michele. Get on the cray cray train.

[dianhow]

11:53 AM on 05/27/2011

yeah This is getting nuttier by the week Bring em all on

[AlPal3]

11:41 AM on 05/27/2011

All true conservatives are deserting the post-2010 GOP, which is corrupt, and pledging to vote straight Democrat in 2012. Signed, a TRUE CONSERVATIVE

[dianhow]

11:54 AM on 05/27/2011

13 Thank You I too am a former GOP voter Reagan - Bush Sr

[AZdesertdog]

11:30 AM on 05/27/2011

a few notes to Mittens on your Iowa return:

1) skip the "Romney Family Picnics" thing. and even though Mormons want to return America to the 1950s, it's really creepy.

2) if you have another photo op at a KFC, pick up the chicken with your fingers and eat it. don't stare at the chicken with that confused look at how to eat it; that spork will break if you try to use it on the chicken. I know your private chef normally cuts yours into teeny little pieces for you at home, but most of us eat it with our hands. for some reason, our "chefs" don't cut ours up for us.

3) please make sure you have all of your sons out campaigning for you. and just like in 2008, if someone asks if your sons are going to be serving their country in Afganistan, be sure to mention that your sons are serving their country by helping you get elected.

don't worry; that doesn't sound "elitist" at all :)

[Al91206]

11:53 AM on 05/27/2011

FANNED!!

[mrmikes]

03:47 PM on 05/27/2011

Pretty cool.

[BroadwayJoe]

11:26 AM on 05/27/2011

Batsh!t Bachmann will probably come 1st. If Caribou gets in, she'll win it and then Batsh!t will come 2nd.

Plain Polenta may come 2nd.

Romney the Weathervane won't be competitive and will finish 3rd or 4th.

At the end of the day, Romney will probably come out but they don't have any chance of winning in the General.

[dianhow]

11:54 AM on 05/27/2011

Mitt has reversed his views so many times I am dizzy trying to keep up with his latest version of Mitt

[eva belle]

12:05 PM on 05/27/2011

Way to go Joe, that's exactly what i call him, Polenta. Poor thing, always coming in at the bottom of the polls.

[Rick4646]

11:15 AM on 05/27/2011

Romney also said something like "let Detroit die" on the GM/Chrysler bailout. Obama made a brave and great decision on that; he had faith in the American worker; Romney and the rest of the GOP do not. I guess he can probably cross Michigan off his list of states to get.

[teabagflush]

11:28 AM on 05/27/2011

All RepubliKans should just bypass Michigan.

[The Right is Wrong]

11:51 AM on 05/27/2011

Didn't they elect a Repub governor in 2010?

[Mattea Berry]

12:19 PM on 05/27/2011

Yup, and his approval rating is around 33%.

[pategp]

02:02 PM on 05/27/2011

Yes, Michigan did. As a lifelong Dem, even I knew that Gov. Snyder would win. All you need to do is look at how the election cycles have gone over the past 30 or so years in Michigan, and you could have predicted he would win. I am also hoping that more people in Michigan will come back to their senses and NOT make him a two term governor as the pattern has been in the past.

[amaboss52]

11:11 AM on 05/27/2011

Romney is like the weather in Colorado, we have a saying "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes it'll change". Romney (as pointed out by Rachel) condemned the auto bailout in very harsh terms, now that they are up and running again, providing jobs, paying the tax payer back, making money, he's trying to take credit for it. This guy will never ever ever ever ever be President. He has no principles to stand by.

[The Right is Wrong]

11:53 AM on 05/27/2011

But to R's, that was a bribe to Unions. I don't understand their logic.

In another illustration of my point, the R's love profits, unless Al Gore might stand to profit.

[Stephen Stafford]

11:06 AM on 05/27/2011

Romney has a subliminal problem. Three certifiable nuts are entering the race at the moment when he is jumping in. There is nothing that distinguishes him from the three nuts. Perhaps people will see four nuts just getting in. I am getting older. The modern way might be nuttiness is the way of the day.

Go GOP. (Away. Away. Aweigh.)

[jrutle]

11:48 AM on 05/27/2011

Romney has multiple problems with the GOP bases, not the least of which is his lack of authenticity and character. He has repeatedly demonstrated a character disorder by refusing to accept the consequences of his past actions and more liberal positions as Governor of Massachusetts. His desire to be part of the mixed nuts is clear pandering to social conservatives who don't trust him. I suspect this is going to be a problem for him which plays out again and again in the early GOP primaries.

[dianhow]

11:59 AM on 05/27/2011

Mitt is cuter and dresses well but thats not enough Mitt looks like a card board cut out Sounds so phony Changes his opinion every week GOP should sit this one out and save the embarrassment