The Realist In Romney Saw A Path Too Steep

Washington Post: Grim Outlook Convinced Former Governor To Drop His Presidential Bid

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Michael D. Shear, Chris Cillizza and Glenn Kessler.

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Mitt Romney wanted to know how bad things really were.

After six weeks of losses, culminating in Tuesday's embarrassing finish in all of the big-state contests, he gathered his inner circle Wednesday morning at the campaign's North End headquarters in Boston. Still very much the corporate fix-it man, whose methodical approach to business had made him the multimillion-dollar personal fortune he was now spending at an alarming rate, Romney had ordered up formal presentations on whether to keep fighting against a surging Sen. John McCain.

One adviser assessed the communications and messaging challenges of staying in the race. Another described tactics. A third offered the financial bottom line. Another mapped out the difficult, state-by-state path Romney would face as an underdog trying to catch up to McCain in the Republican delegate count.

"There was a path," said a top aide who helped develop one of the presentations. "There was absolutely zero room for error. And then, it was, at best, probably not more than a 20 percent chance."

Despite the grim outlook, Romney announced no decision. Flanked by his wife, Ann, his son Tagg and his former business partner Bob White, he listened, asked questions, jotted notes on a legal pad. Then he left for home to write his speech for yesterday's conference of conservative activists. The draft he e-mailed to top aides just after dinnertime said he was "standing aside" for the good of the Republican Party.

"That was when we knew," said a senior adviser.

For a year, Romney had been the only candidate to put his money and organizational resources in all the early-voting states even as his rivals picked their battles. He faced former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Iowa, McCain in New Hampshire and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in Florida. In each place, he lost.

But he soldiered on, spending an estimated $50 million of his personal funds -- 20 percent of his publicly stated net worth -- and believing all the way until the Super Tuesday mega-primary, his advisers said privately, that the nomination could be his. In the days leading up to Tuesday, he poured more than $1 million into television ads in California, a primary he ended up losing big.

"We thought if we won California we could keep on keeping on," a senior Romney aide recalled.

But the calendar was against Romney. To stop McCain, he would have to win virtually all of the delegates in every contest in every state left to vote. And so, a campaign that began with seemingly limitless resources and enormous hype ended with an admission by Romney that his carefully plotted strategy had failed to lift an unknown former governor to the head of his party.

"As of today, more than 4 million people have given me their vote for president, less than Senator McCain's 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless," Romney told the activists in Washington yesterday. "Eleven states have given me their nod, compared to his 13." He paused, looking drawn and tired, then added: "Of course, because size does matter, he's doing quite a bit better with his number of delegates."

The Midnight Riders

At the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., last February, when he announced his 2008 bid, the perfectly coiffed, ramrod-straight ex-governor looked like the ideal Republican candidate -- a conservative who seemed certain to face either McCain or Giuliani, both men whose moderate credentials would force them to run as centrists.

But in positioning himself as the only true conservative in a race that didn't appear to have one, Romney decided to abandon the moderate bearing that had served him well as a can-do GOP governor of liberal Massachusetts. That choice prompted months of attacks by his rivals, who took to calling him a flip-flopper with no principles.

Romney early on assembled an all-star team of consultants to sell himself as a product, offered to the public with scores of highly targeted television commercials. He was telegenic and looked and sounded presidential, and he had the money to fund the sort of extended effort on television that none of his rivals could match. But the scores of ads took over his campaign, providing no clear message for the voters to see.

And soon the massive team of consultants -- known as the Midnight Riders in homage to another Bostonian, Paul Revere -- were feuding among themselves. The idea had been to re-create the sort of synergistic approach to television commercials adopted by President Bush in his two successful national bids; several of the Romney media gurus had been part of that team. The initial group was Alex Castellanos, Curt Anderson, Brad Todd and Larry McCarthy. Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer, who served as the lead media consultants for McCain's effort until July, signed on in August.

But the newcomers feuded with the others about the proper direction for the campaign, according to several senior advisers, with Castellanos and Anderson arguing for Romney to run an ideological race based on his conservative beliefs, and Stevens and Schriefer pushing for a focus on Romney's resume and accomplishments.

Even as the media team argued, others in the organization felt that too much time and money was being spent on television ads and not enough on the ground game in key early states. "They had a chokehold on strategy," one adviser said of the media team. "It was a deadlocked panel of advisers who were pulling in different directions about where the resources had to go."

In the end, the millions of dollars spent on television did little but raise expectations for Romney. For months last year, the polls rewarded the fact that he was the only candidate on the air in Iowa, New Hampshire and the other early-voting states. But his leads evaporated once the others arrived.

One Romney adviser described a "play it safe" strategy that was a result of the months-long fight among Romney's highly paid consultants: "Part of this gridlock was the inevitable byproduct of a terribly divided strategy team."

'Huckabee on Our Flank'

Aug. 11 should have been a banner day for Romney.

Months of organizing and millions of dollars spent on campaign commercials in Iowa had put him in the top spot heading into the Ames straw poll -- the first key test of the Republican nomination fight.

Throughout the day, signs of Romney's largesse were apparent. Children played in huge blow-up jungle gyms. Supporters wore canary-yellow T-shirts with "Team Mitt" emblazoned on them. A sprawl of white tents provided much-needed shade -- temperatures neared triple digits -- and unending plates of barbecue and bottles of water.

By nightfall, the campaign had packed Iowa State's Stephens Auditorium with cheering supporters. The results confirmed Romney's victory: He won 4,516 votes -- 2,000 more than his nearest competitor. But in a surprise, Huckabee, not Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), claimed second place.

[bdrlnt4rl]

it does not matter what someone else believes, huck does and will not accept it because it is not putting money in hucks pocket with passing of the plate. he already said he wanted to pass the plate at one of the debate.


the constitution was created on the christian idea, to treat every one respectfully, kindness and equal to yourself, huck has already proved by his anti mormon statements he is incapable of following the constitution.


if huck is anti mormon, he will be anti budah, anti jew, anti muslim,ect.......

that means huck is war, hatred, war, hatred, war.....

ya know what is funny, the christians all say ''''''''''''''''do what jesus would do''''''''''''''''

but yet, they hate all that do not go to church with them. sounds kind of like a typical hypacrit. read the bible. more mormons read the bible than any other religion. i know, because my neighbors are mormon.

it does not matter if they read the book of picking your nose, they are more christ like than hypocrit hucky fans.

religious intolerance is unacceptable as the pres of america.

[cpaide]

"But he soldiered on, spending an estimated $50 million of his personal funds..."

$50 million of personal funds? Not so fast. He''ll probably write it off as job hunting expense, so it only cost him $25 million. The other $25 million is paid for by the stupid American taxpayer. Mutt gets the last laugh again.

[denn034]

Romney made the right decision that''s for sure.

[salty1954]

Mitt Romney for Mayor of Detroit!

[akoeppen]

The one BIG reason why Romney''s campaign was unsuccessful is the media. Romney spent so much of his resources just countering the onslaught of attacks from the McCain friendly media. Now that the media has their choice for the Republican nomination--McCain--the political bloodbath is about to begin.

[prinzowhales]

Americans who support the Constitution and the Republic have one choice now--a Third Party!!

The treason and corruption that is the Demopublican party is no longer the kind of vehicle that any decent American can support! It supports open borders...it supports war without end...it supports a police state...it supports internationalism, big taxes and big government...and follows a corrupt leader who calls the Constitution ''just a G-- D--- piece of paper''.

Vote Third Party!

[lochlan-2009]

singingrick - You hit the nail on the head. Romney was actually chasing corporate america.

[ekucrew]

SERIOUS QUESTION HERE....

Do the prez candidates that bail out eventually find a way to recoup their lost personal $$$$ spent on their failed campaigns? Is there a limit as to what they can get back?

[prinzowhales]

The big decision that the Paul campaign faces is when to declare as a Third Party candidate...Free men will not vote for dogs like McCain, Hucksterbee, Clinton or Obama... Free men will vote for peace...for ''leben und leben lassen''...we will not fight for Big Oil and the Drug Lords in Afghanistan...we will not vote for candidates who support the dissolution of our nation into the North American Union and persist in the lie that we are fighting a war on terror while leaving the border open and supporting amnesty for illegals.

No soldier or officer who upholds the Constitution or his oath will stand with this evil regime whose leader calls the Constitution that they are sworn to uphold and lay down their lives for, "just a G-- D--- piece of paper"!

Free men will not long stand idle while the imperiousness of jack-booted thugs and swarms of self-important bureaucrats impose themselves upon us... humiliate law abiding citizens and commit violence against them! We will not have our economy destroyed and our freedom ended for the sake of the balance sheets of the Oligarchs who have usurped our Federal government and are trying to destroy us! Down with the usurpers! Restore the Constitution and the Republic!!

[singingrick]

Romney had at least two positions on every issue depending on who he was speaking to. The only reason that the neocons liked him was they knew that he could be easily bought.

[wdrussell1]

terrorislam is too stupid to know what the story is he is posting to.
Typical rightwing loon.

[bwessels]

Bush claims he was chosen by God (or was it the devil, a.k.a. Cheney? Oh well, close enough) to be president. Apparently the Angel Moroni does not have as much pull.

[realpatriot1]

The scumbag in Romney claims to be dropping out for the "good of the party'' and to make America safe from Democrats.

The true realist in Romney couldn''t keep throwing his money away on a lost cause. The Machiavelli in Romney is hoping to make a comeback in 2012 after the GOP gets creamed in the fall.

[fibonacci_]

Remember that spamming Ron Paul guy "Prophet" who used to fill up entire forums with Ron Paul spam? All I have to say is this: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Told you so.

[prinzowhales]

"Change" may once again be the matra of the sheeple who now inhabit this once great land, but what they really want is ''normalcy''...that indefinable since of ''more of the same...only different''. The candidates who offer profound change are not winning support for several reasons...

The Corporatist-controlled mass media translates reality...creates "momentums"...just as it creates fashion, fads and fans...they try to sell a product... failed with Giuliani...failed with Romney...succeeded with McCain...

Ron Paul didn''t get that build-up...the mass media tries to keep a lid on him--or, variously, tried to destroy him...He is the object of scorn...by a vile cowardly creature like O''Reilly...himself illustrative of the power of the media...a pervert who decries others as "whackos" is watched by those who promote "family values" and a "Christian America"...

Dumber-than-dirt Republicans who wanted "change" and strongly opposed the war...voted for John McCain in New Hampshire...not a particularly backward place or with an electorate so different from that elsewhere...

...they apparently saw no contradiction between their "strongly held opposition to the war" and John McCain''s promise to stay in Iraq for a hundred years if need be...this is a sign that many, if not most, Americans live in the ''propaganda matrix'' and cannot distinguish it from the real world.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19306.htm

[radiob-2009]

Ron Paul is strong not with the minnows he is catching.

[rushlimpdrug]

Romney''''s errors cornered him into "zero room for error ."
"I was pro-choice. Now I''''m pro-life."
"I was for gay rights. Now I''''m not."
"I did support stem-cell research." "Now I don''''t."
... et cetera ...
Posted by newz4i at 10:28 AM :

Yeah, like these bullchit "issues" are so important to running this nation.

It seems to me these issues are important in running a church.

I''m sick of stupid issues like these overshadowing the fact that this country is going to helll, or to china, (which are one and the same).

[irliberal]

Posted by cop12 at 09:48 AM

YOU MEANIES! YOU LEAVE RON ALONE! *WAH*

(lol.... Ron who?)

[nolalou]

Posted by cop12: "CBS---you made the comment that now this is a two man race...You must mean Huckabee and Ron Paul?????? Right! Don''''t you dare try to shove your big money bosses hidden agenda''''s down our throats! RON PAUL IS STRONG WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!!!GO RON PAUL!"

If CBS or any other media outlet suggested that this is a 2 man race between Huckabee & Ron Paul, I''d wonder what they had been smoking! Its time to give it up, Ron Paul isn''t going anywhere, except back to his district in Texas!

So cop12, don''t you and the other Ron Paul backers DARE SPEW MORE OF YOUR B.S down our throats!

[newz4i]

Romney''s errors cornered him into "zero room for error ."

"I was pro-choice. Now I''m pro-life."

"I was for gay rights. Now I''m not."

"I did support stem-cell research." "Now I don''t."

... et cetera ...