Arkansas Blog: The Mittmobile comes to suburbia

While the much-discussed Huckabee press conference yesterday was clearly the oddest event I’ve seen in Iowa, today’s series of Mitt Romney events were pretty durn weird. In an attempt to humanize the fairly robotic Romney, his campaign scheduled a series of Mittmobile stops at private residences where football watch parties were taking place. I made it to the party at the Richardson residence in a suburb on the eastern outskirts of Des Moines. About 40 neighbors and friends of the Richardsons (and many more media) were in the basement of their tract home in a golf course community. If Romney is to win Iowa, he’s got to run up huge margins in neighborhoods like this, populated by upper-middle class voters drawn to a businessman emphasizing his “management skills.” Introduced by his youngest son, Craig Romney, the former governor gave a 10-12 minute talk from a riser just next to the TV where the University of Michigan had just pulled off its victory over Florida. Hitting his key themes of the campaign (the war on “radical violent jihad,” cutting government spending, and immigration), Romney also took a couple of jabs at an unnamed Mike Huckabee saying that “This is not a time for frivolity.” He also emphasized that Iowans wouldn’t be wasting their vote on him because he’s “not a one-hit wonder,” but a viable candidate in many early states.

The problem with the event was that, in the attempt to humanize Romney through placing him in the basement of a home with people eating jalapeno poppers and pizza, it only made his inability to naturally connect with real people more stark. [At one point, Romney had difficulty remembering the words to “America, the Beautiful.”]

There was only one oblique reference to Romney’s Mormonism. As he talked with voters after the speech, one woman quickly sat down her wine glass in some embarrassment. Romney, showing the one bit of real humor during the event said, “Oh, that’s not illegal. Well, it is for me, but not for you.”

As for that “frivolity,” I’m now off to tonight’s big event, Huckabee’s appearance with his new pal Chuck Norris. Times associate editor John Williams should be meeting me there.

Comments

You know, Dr. Barth, I'm developing a newfound respect for Hendrix here. I have to applaud the Times for allowing you to blog here. It's really unlike the usual coverage, which is just Max obsessing about how awful Huckabee is in between pimping Hillary Clinton.

I love Max's usual coverage of Arkansas politics and happenings but I haven't been able to get into the "hate Huckabee" groove even though I'm not a Huck supporter in the election (Giuliani '08!) So all the Huckahatred posts have been a turn-off. Your coverage has won me back to the blog.

Posted by: Prouster | January 1, 2008 06:52 PM

Oh yes, bring on JuilieAnnie and all his wives and lovers and silly phone calls during a speech....
marriage to a cousin, kids who are embarrased by him, 911,911,911
But he didn't stop it.........as idiot/vice didn't and they had info it was going to happen
and did nothing but keep on chopping wood at "the ranch."

Posted by: jazzy | January 1, 2008 07:27 PM

Thanks for brining Jay to us from the campaign trail

Posted by: Diogenes | January 1, 2008 08:04 PM

Always good to see a member of the Arkansas Democrat Central Committee posing as a member of the media and going to Republican events. Brings a VERY trustworthy tone to everything he says about the candidates and makes me wonder what kind of motive is behind the reporting. Maybe he wants Romney to lose and that is shading his commentary about the events.

Fools to the Right.
Fools to the Left.

Posted by: Light Brigade | January 1, 2008 08:56 PM

Great stuff, Dr. Barth. Adding a dimension to the blog. (That said, I liked it as-is as well.)

Posted by: JD | January 1, 2008 09:23 PM

lb why don't you go to a hillary event and give us your opinion of it. we would be intrested in what you have to say. that is what is wonderful about these internet tubes. you can write from anywhere and as long as you try to make your sides known to keep everything in the open all is well.

did everybody eat their peas and jowl? my wife and mother in law threw it down my throat along with baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar, and cornbread. it was horrible but i managed to choke down a few bites.

Posted by: zonker | January 1, 2008 09:51 PM

Zonker, I didn't plan on logging in tonight, but your post made me laugh out loud.
I am a good southern cook, but I have never eaten hog jowl, and never will. Peas are OK if seasoned right, cornbread is great, sweet potatoes not so much.

Everyone have a great 2008.

Posted by: BlueRidge | January 1, 2008 10:04 PM

Arkansas Blog

The Mittmobile comes to suburbia

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