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Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
The man the McCain camp used to compare to the antichrist is working hard to win the vice-presidential nod.
By Mike Madden
Read more: Republican Party, Presidential Race, John McCain, Politics, News, Economy, Michigan, 2008 election, Mitt Romney, Mike Madden
Reuters/Rick Wilking
Sen. John McCain, left, speaks at a news conference with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Denver, March 27, 2008.
July 30, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- About 60 people gathered at Mitt Romney's vacation home in the ski resort of Park City, Utah, for an exclusive dinner a couple of months ago. All of them were top donors and fundraisers for Romney's failed presidential campaign. They'd helped him take in nearly $70 million (besides the $44 million of his own money that he spent on his bid) over the previous year or so. Just to get in the door of Romney's house, each person had to write a check for $35,000, earmarked for a joint account operated by John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee. The after-dinner entertainment was a freewheeling session with President Bush, who told the guests he'd rather take their questions than give a prepared speech.
Bush talked about Iraq, foreign policy, the economy and life after he leaves the White House. But the question on the minds of most of the guests was a little less lofty.
"Somebody in the audience said, 'Don't you think Mitt Romney would make a terrific vice president?'" Lee Hanley, an Arizona developer who flew up from Phoenix for the fundraiser, told Salon. "There's no doubt that a lot of people would love to see Gov. Romney on the ticket." (Bush apparently demurred, saying it was up to McCain.)
By the time McCain was finished with him this winter, you'd have figured the last thing Romney would want to do would be help out his former rival. McCain had taunted and bullied Romney through the primary season, beating him handily in almost every state they competed in and, finally, showing up to campaign in Romney's adopted hometown for no apparent reason other than to be obnoxious.
But a funny thing has happened over the past few months: Romney has become one of McCain's biggest fans. Within a week of dropping out of the race, Romney sent word out through his organization to get on board with the nominee. His political apparatus is rapidly integrating with McCain's -- in Iowa, for example, where McCain barely campaigned last winter, Romney's former state director is running McCain's operation. In Michigan, possibly the GOP's top priority this fall, Romney has been showing up often to put his deep roots in the state to work for McCain. Romney appears on TV whenever the McCain team wants him to, pushing the latest talking points with that same achingly earnest manner he showed all through the primaries.
"I'm appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf," McCain said this month. "He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact."
The fervor with which Romney and his team have enlisted may not be entirely due to GOP loyalty, though. As the economy emerged as the election's key issue, and Romney grew more and more comfortable working on McCain's behalf, supporters who ended the primary season wondering what steps they needed to take to keep Romney's chances alive for the next GOP presidential primary contest started wondering if he might be busy even sooner than that. While no one in Romney's inner circle will admit it publicly, his allies are doing all they can to set up their man as McCain's running mate.
Insiders say you can't campaign openly for the job of vice president -- it tends to backfire if you look too eager. "He's doing what they ask him to do, and he enjoys it," one former Romney advisor said. "I think if he really thought he was auditioning for vice president, he wouldn't be as good." But Romney's supporters -- and Romney -- are doing what's needed to make him an option. The effort is far more implicit than explicit, with the assumption that as Romney's former backers work for McCain, his value in McCain's eyes will go up.
"He understood that as he came out of this last cycle, there were people who were kind of angry with him," said one former close Romney advisor, who like most of his confidants, wouldn't speak without a guarantee of anonymity. "He's trying to say, 'Here's who I really am, I am a team player.' He has done enough right now for the McCain people to say, 'Mitt Romney stood up to the plate and did what we needed him to do.'"
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