Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney Declares today his candidacy for the 2012 Republican nomination for president. As Palin’s tour is set to be in the same place Romney will be, New Hampshire will be the first place to hear Romney make his declaration. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
It’s not just the national press corps that’s getting tangled up in the nomadic movements of the Palin tribe through New England. It’s also Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, who makes his bid official at a chili-cook off at a farm in New Hampshire today.
Romney, as befits his personality and style, has long planned and choreographed the event for his campaign rollout. Palin, meanwhile, is just trucking up the seaboard eventually heading for the Granite State. As Romney tries to get another look, all eyes are on Palin’s bus as it flirts with the state’s southern border today.
Is she doing mischief? Trying to help her own chances? Rolling without any plan? She’s sure not telling.
But if you look at the advance text of Romney’s remarks, he’s clearly looking to embrace some of the same Tea Party energy that fuels the Palin caravan. Romney will talk about the need to woo libertarian voters (not a bad move as Ron Paul staffs up in the state) and will preach a bit on states’ rights.
The biggest knock on Romney from the roguish wing of the GOP is that he’s an establishment wannabe and technocrat who doesn’t really feel their kind of pistol-packing conservatism in his well-structured bones.
With Palin hovering around today, Romney is going to try to show that he’s got Goldwater fever too.
But the Romney plan is more about money.
National Journal reports that Romney has scheduled 33 fundraising events in 14 states and the District of Columbia. The goal is to show a massive bankroll at the end of the first quarter, maybe even one to rival the $60 million Obama insiders say the president will seek in the same period.
