Jan

Romney’s Book Tour Includes Primary States

I don’t think anyone believes Mitt Romney won’t run in the next presidential Republican primary. This bit of news doesn’t do anything to dispel that notion.

Boston.com: Later this winter, Mitt Romney will strike out on a national book tour, but unlike his party’s most successful recent author he does not expect to make headlines with bits of fresh gossip from the 2008 campaign, see his fans camp overnight outside bookstores, or chat with Oprah Winfrey about his family.

“Inevitably there are going to be comparisons with the Sarah Palin book,’’ said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman. “We’re not going to match her crowd size or sales. These are two different people with different ways of expressing themselves.’’

The March 2 release of “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,’’ will kick off a monthlong tour taking the former Massachusetts governor to at least 18 states, including Iowa, where Romney’s presidential campaign collapsed nearly two years ago after a second-place caucus finish.

But Romney, considered by many in the party to be the default Republican front-runner for the 2012 nomination, is approaching the book tour with the patient, workmanlike mien that has distinguished him from other probable contenders who seem far more eager for attention.

“Romney is playing things very methodically and deliberatively,’’ said Mark McKinnon, a former media adviser to President George W. Bush and 2008 Republican nominee John McCain. “I think he understands the physics of this game very well now and is carefully calibrating his approach to 2012.’’ ….

I haven’t completely dismissed Romney for 2012. Yeah, he has some explaining to do for RomneyCare, but in all fairness, I haven’t heard him promote RomneyCare as an alternative for the United States. He was the governor of a liberal state, with a liberal legislature who he gave the people what they thought they wanted.

Health care issue aside, he’d be far more competent than Barack Obama, but 2012 is a long way and anything can happen between now and then.

Via memeorandum

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