Aboard Air Romney

By: Scott Conroy
Topics: Mitt Romney

(CBS)

From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- For the first time in the campaign, the entire Romney press corps was invited to fly with the governor and his staff on the candidate's chartered jet this morning. After countless delayed flights, long security lines and lost baggage, flying private was a nice change indeed.

The dynamic on the flight from Massachusetts to South Carolina was a bit like a mullet. Romney was all business in the front, where he consulted with staff members for the majority of the two-hour flight, but he let loose a bit when he paid a visit to the back of the 50-seat plane to chat with members of the media.

When I asked the governor to tell us about the oddest thing that's happened to him on the campaign trail so far, I was expecting something along the lines of receiving a question from a man dressed as Santa or being mistaken for another candidate. No, according to Governor Romney, it was the time he was posing for a photograph and the woman standing next to him suddenly grabbed his rear end.

Romney has a long day of campaigning in South Carolina ahead, including five public events and four more flights. This is the governor's first swing through the state since November 6 and his eighteenth visit overall.

Romney said he's looking forward to staying at our hotel tonight — his favorite Hampton Inn, which sits on the South Carolina coast.