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Sure, Reading, Vermont, is lovely. But why is Romney spending the day there?
It's been four days since Mitt Romney officially claimed his party's presidential nomination, and by most accounts, he's not exactly heading out of Tampa with the wind at his back. We'll have more on the post-convention bounce, or lack thereof, a little later.
But for now, it's worth noting how Romney is spending his day. Bus tour? Major rallies? High-profile interviews? Something to take advantage of post-convention excitement? Apparently not.
...Romney plans to spend much of the week in private preparing for the fall's debates with President Obama, with no public appearances currently planned.
After spending Sunday and Monday at his summer home on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, Romney will travel to Reading, Vt., for several practice sessions at the home of Kerry Healey, who served as his lieutenant governor in Massachusetts. Joining them will be Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who was tapped recently by the Romney campaign to portray Obama in the mock sessions after the rave reviews he received for playing Obama during GOP nominee John McCain's debate prep in 2008.
Romney's campaign previously had said he would be making public appearances this week during the Democratic convention, but senior adviser Kevin Madden told reporters on Saturday that no public events are now on the schedule.
I can say with some authority that Vermont is a delightful place to be in early September, and I certainly don't blame Romney for heading to the Green Mountain State. For that matter, debate prep is always a good idea.
But the first debate is still a month away and it's hard to remember the last time a major-party nominee didn't even try to capture some post-convention momentum. Four years ago, Obama/Biden launched a bus tour of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio after their convention wrapped up. McCain/Palin did a post-convention tour of their own. In 2000, Bush/Cheney took a whistlestop tour by train of Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois after their convention. In 1992, Clinton/Gore launched a 1,000-mile post-convention bus tour. In 2004, Kerry/Edwards traveled even further.
Even this year, after this week's convention in Charlotte wraps up, the Obamas and Bidens are hitting the road for some joint events in New Hampshire and Iowa, before spreading out to other states.
But Romney's staying out of the public eye? On purpose? It's a strange strategy.
Photo: joep373526/Flickr
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No problem. Now that the convention is out of the way, Mitch can go about the business of introducing himself to the American people.
Epistemically closure. How can they lose to a blah, Kenyan socialist? Can you say "Martha Coakley"?
How do you "seize a lack of momentum"?
Is it anything like nailing jello to a tree?
His popularity goes up when people don't have to look at him or listen to him.
"'Tis better to be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and prove such beyond all doubt."
And Portman? Yeah, he definitely did a great job getting Wet-Start Johnny ready for his clock-cleaning.
What I want to see next month is Obama to pull out a rhetorical fish knife and gut Romoney on-stage, in public.
Why does he need to campaign when he figures the fix is in for him to win?
Maybe the undecided voters were trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and were waiting to see some sense of decency from Romney. I think the bottom fell out when after the convention we all realized he wasn't going to come clean about lieing and took no credit for the way the Republicans are resorting to deceitful strategies in trying to win this election. If they beleive their idealogies are correct then why do they have to cheat in order to win. They still think they can win against the black population of this Country, they lost that fight in 1964 when the rest of the nation was rejoicing at civil rights being passed. Don't they realize how ignorant they look.
Romney believes in the almighty dollar and that he can BUY anything. There is absolutely nothing in Reading (except for the cemetary my husband's family owns) so it is a perfect place for him to go comtemplate how to steal the country.
I think Mitt is scared to death of the debates.
Let us not get too cocky.
When he went head to head with Teddy he was a decent debater. Not a "MasterDebater", but Mitt can hold his own, against stiff opposition. The problem with preparing a whole month ahead, is that - like a prize fighter-one can achieve peak conditioning too soon, so when the climactic event arrives, he will be spent. If that happens, then Obama will be mopping the floor.
I would have expected Romney to take his bus to the Dem convention and ride around with his fingers flapping while his thumbs were in his ears.
I understand it takes about a month of practice so the lies are ingrained well enough to sound somewhat convincing.
Looks like somebody has decided that no amount his flaccid campaigning is going to move the needle and that the debates are his last chance. And I suspect the plan is to drill and drill and drill himself to the point that the odds of someone gaffing badly shift to the guy who's got an actual job he has to do in addition to running for office
The part in the movie Game Change where handlers are trying to prep Palin for her debate was interesting. In spite of her lack of both knowledge and seriousness, her acceptence by the base was enthusiastic. And then there is Mitt. Uninspiring and prone to non-interrupted lying and not trusted by the base. He will get his head handed to him in the debates. And as with Bush, the GOP will be gushing how he won the debates. One can hope the evidence is so contrary that self-respecting independents will turn with loathing and support Obama in mass.
Given the fact-checking response to Ryan's convention speech and marathon statistics, it's probably in Romney's best interests to come up with new talking points. If he keeps trotting out the same lines/lies, then these can immediately be discredited/ridiculed. Also, for someone short on actual policy details, he probably do have a lot of work to do to specify and memorize. Perhaps he can use this time to come up with new strategies to up his game. Plus he's been reluctant to take a lot of questions from the press, so he may really need to practice for the debate.
He probably doesn't need to be in the news right now. At this point he can air more ads, so the public will have ample opportunity to see him daily in their living rooms. With the amount of money they've got, he probably can end up with more recognition than a lot of household items. What he gets from actively campaigning is what performers get from working a live audience, an opportunity to further develop his material with immediate feedback.
Romney doesn't need to campaign. Rove, Cheney, and Koch have it all wrapped up - just throw 3 million people off the voting roles
Can you say "this is how the Repubs steal another election"
Rachel, Maybe the Republicans are taking time off because they know something we don't.
I don't trust them, remember Florida 2000? Maybe they set something up to win this election like they did before. We have to find out what. Refusing to let people vote in the battlegrownd States, maybe?
Remember Florida 2000? I am sure the Republicans are not worried about winning the election again because they have something up their sleeves again. Maybe the voting problems in the battlegownd States? Something is giving them the easy to go boating after their primary. I'd kip my eyes and ears open.
Yup, mittens can just kick back because Rove/Cheney/Koch have the election under control (as in take 3 million voters off the roles and keep the voting machines that do not give receipts and turn the vote to repub)
Yup it is 2000, 2004 all over again