Motown Mitt

The New Republic: Focus On The Economy Has Given Romney A Boost Before Mich. Primary

(The New Republic)  In a sense, Romney's campaign here is bringing him full circle to where it began. Just a little over a year ago, Romney formally announced his candidacy at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn - making a case for himself as the pragmatic, business-oriented outsider. But while those themes never vanished from Romney's campaign, in the months after the announcement, they receded into the background as McCain's candidacy flagged and Romney appealed directly to the Republican base, burnishing his credentials as a strong hawk on foreign policy and a committed social conservative. And, as everybody now knows, the effort didn't succeed - in part because it was so transparently artificial.

But in Michigan, at least, Romney has mostly campaigned like the candidate he promised to be back in Dearborn. You can see it in the advertisement he's been running most heavily on Detroit television, in which he vows to "invest in the future, with new technology and innovation." In contrast to some of the attack spots for which his campaign has become notorious, this one contains only positive boasts, set against images of factories churning out cars, autoworkers standing together, and - naturally - a family photo of Romney with his later father.

The change is also apparent in the stump speech Romney has used for the last week. He emphasizes his economic ideas, and while they may not add up to more than the usual supply side shibboleths - making tax cuts permanent, eliminating the capital gains tax, reforming lawsuits - he does at least offer the Bain Capital/Winter Olympics/passing-health-care-in-Massachusetts resume that's relevant to the discussion.

The contrast with the image McCain has promoted lately couldn't be more striking. McCain has been on the air in Detroit with his own television spots for the last two weeks - seemingly as much as Romney, which is no small feat given the latter's personal fortune and apparent willingness to spend it. But the TV ad that I've seen the most simply features McCain speaking directly to the camera about his character and record. He boasts about taking on special interests, questioning Rumsfeld's strategy in Iraq, and fighting pork barrel spending. "I've made a lot of people in Washington angry," he says. He's right about that, for sure, but there's nothing in the ad that speaks directly to the concerns of, say, the 200 workers laid off from a local parts plant a few days ago.

McCain's latest stump speech does speak to economics more directly. But, as I discover at the American Dream Summit, the devotion is more in word than in spirit. McCain runs through these sections of his talk with an obvious lack of passion, sounding and looking like a high-schooler grudgingly giving a speech to his English class. The content of what he's proposing isn't much different than Romney's familiar mix of conservative ideas - more tax breaks, fewer regulations, and a little money for worker retraining. But if it's the same basic policies Romney is endorsing, McCain delivers it a lot less convincingly - and without much reason to think why he, as opposed to a brilliant management consultant, is best positioned to enact them.

Ironically, some of the arguments that have traditionally served McCain best seem to be making his task harder here. McCain is a famous critic of earmarks - the targeted spending items that members of Congress quietly attach to bills, in order to finance projects back home. And in his speech at the summit, he boasts that he's never once sponsored such a measure himself. It's a noble stand. But earmarks also represent money flowing from Washington to the rest of the country - which, frankly, is precisely what should be happening in a recession. They often mean jobs, too, no small thing to the people who don't have them - plenty of whom live in Michigan. Among the recent earmarks, for example, was a $4 million contract for a defense contractor here and another half-million for a group of hospitals.

Twenty-four hours later, I see McCain again - this time in Howell, a small city tucked into one of the state's most conservative pockets. This time McCain is appearing at a town hall meeting, the format in which he seems most comfortable. And it appears he, too, has decided he needs to engage economic issues more forcefully - and convincingly - than he has so far. Although McCain only speaks for a few minutes before answering questions, he stresses his belief that "Michigan's best days are ahead of us" and then pivots to a theme he touched on the day before: The potential to build a new manufacturing economy here based on green technology.

As my colleague Brad Plumer has pointed out, McCain's ideas along these lines don't live up to his rhetoric. Still, it shows no small measure of courage to talk up environmentalism among Republicans, particularly Republicans in Michigan. And this crowd of McCain partisans certainly seems to appreciate it, granting him enthusiastic applause throughout.

After the town hall, however, McCain holds a press availability to further discuss his thinking on the economy - and it becomes clear, again, just how little of substance he has to offer. When asked for his thoughts on a potential stimulus package that would quickly boost the economy, McCain falls back on his preference for permanent tax cuts, reduced regulation, an end to earmarks, and green investment - none of which would make a difference in the short-term.

Is that enough to convince people focused on the economy - both in Michigan and beyond - that McCain is the candidate who will help them the most? To help answer that question, I get back in touch with John Hillman, the car salesman who asked that complicated trade question. Did McCain really call him from the bus? He did, Hillman tells me. They spoke for about five to seven minutes, as McCain was pulling into his next campaign stop. They discussed not only trade but also climate change - in particular, Hillman's worry that more stringent mileage standards for cars were unrealistic.

McCain didn't change his mind, Hillman said, but it was a respectful back-and-forth. I asked Hillman whether he was impressed that McCain followed through on his promise. "I very much appreciated his calling. ... I believe him to be an honest man." And would Hillman be voting for McCain on Tuesday? Probably not, he said. He's still leaning towards Romney.

[logicanada]

Michigan is looking more third-world every passing year.
The only way the auto manufacturing will return there is if some foreign auto concern moves in and employs the labor market much like US firms outsource to foreign cheap labor sources. Then who will buy the vehicles?
Romney is making promises he can''t keep.

[ianlou]

Now that Mitt won Michigan over something as inconsequential as the 450,000 jobs lost in Michigan during the George Jr. years, the Republican party can move on to other states and more important issues like which candidate knows Jesus better.

[tibu987]

What hogwash.
Romney won because of name recognition. Romney can do nothing to revive the auto industry, those problems took many years, inferior products, and greedy unions to get where they are today.
Nothing and no one can save them now.

[samsel3]

We can all talk about the past, but what about now and the future ? Presently the CNP Council for National Policy is planning your future. This secretive organisation of several hundred of the richest men in the USA put Bush & Cheney in office to accomplish their global agenda. In September 2007 they met again in Salt Lake City. Cheney & Mitt Romney were keynote speakers. Romney wants their backing. The CNP wants to continue their agenda in global market control for BIG OIL & allied industry in the next election. National media outlets are owned by their members. Who will expose them? Who will stop their insanity and destruction of constitutional freedom ? Who will stop their misuse of the military to promote their global agenda? Paul Wolfowitz,Don Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, George Bush, Richard Cheney, Eliot Cohen. Zalmay Khalilzad, Steve Forbes, Donald Kagan, Pete Rodman, Henry S Rowen, Dan Quale, William J.Bennett, Jeb Bush, they are all members of the PNAC Project for a New American Century.

[nearl4511]

Yes and his lies to desparate people that all the manufacturing jobs are coming back also helped his surge.