Mitt Romney

Michigan’s “Golden Boy” Romney Comes in Dead Last in State Polls…

Posted by on February 13, 2007 at 11:21 AM

Mitt’s back, but is he home?

In a December 2005 interview with the Boston Herald, Republican presidential candidate, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney told the paper he would have stayed in his home state of Michigan had he known he would enter a career in politics.

“Running as a Romney in Michigan is golden for a politician,” the Detroit native said. “I never would have thought about Massachusetts had I anticipated that politics was going to be in my future.”

Romney’s father served as the governor of Michigan from 1963-69.

However, Romney’s self-proclaimed “golden” status in the Wolverine state is not playing to his favor quite as he may have planned. In a statewide poll released last week by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, Romney ranked last among GOP candidates in the eyes of Michigan voters. Only 38 percent of surveyed voters had a favorable opinion of the golden boy, with Sen. John McCain getting 59 percent, and Rudy Giuliani with 55 percent. A full 19 percent did not know who the “Golden Governor” was.

So how did Romney’s long strange trip land him as Governor in Boston instead of Lansing? In a word, ambition. In fact, Gov. John Engler publicly offered him a shot at a Senate seat in 2002:

“I have to object, though, to Mitt Romney going back to Massachusetts. He was born in Michigan. He needs to come back to Michigan. We would like to have him in our state. We have got two United States Senate seats waiting for him.”

Kidding or not, Gov. Engler had already hand-picked his favorite to succeed him in 2002 – Lt. Governor Dick Posthumous. So Engler essentially had offered Romney a shot at Sen. Carl Levin, who had waxed Mitt’s sister-in-law, Ronna Romney, in his previous race.

Having already been beaten by a Kennedy in Massachusetts, its no wonder he passed on a chance to run against a Levin in Michigan. So much for the "golden" Romney name.

Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, Republicans cleared the way for him, easing incumbent Republican Gov. Jane Swift out of the race in his favor, setting the stage for a clear shot at a Governors mansion held by Republicans since 1991.

And that my friends is how Massachusetts got the honor of calling smooth-talking Mitt Romney their own. Of course, it's not surprising that he would change his mind about where he calls home, since he's changed his position on just about everything else.

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