Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum Wield Etch-a-Sketches in Lousiana
By David Weigel
Romney Tries to Move Spotlight Off 'Etch A Sketch'
By ASHLEY PARKER
ARBUTUS, Md. — During a town-hall-style meeting here, Mitt Romney
exulted on Wednesday afternoon about his recent wins in Illinois and
Puerto Rico, beamed as he talked about his new endorsement from former
Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and took half a dozen questions from voters.
But for the press and the chattering political masses, there was only
one question on everyone's mind: What exactly did Eric Fehrnstrom, Mr.
Romney's senior adviser, mean when he said earlier in the day that Mr.
Romney's fall campaign as the nominee would be "almost like an Etch a
Sketch — you can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."
In a short press conference after his town hall meeting, Mr. Romney
answered only one question, about Mr. Fehrnstrom's comments, which
dominated the news Wednesday and drew criticism and mockery from
Republicans and Democrats alike.
"The issues I'm running on will be exactly the same," Mr. Romney said.
"I'm running as a conservative Republican, I was a conservative
Republican governor, I'll be running as a conservative Republican
nominee — or, excuse me, at that point, hopefully, nominee for
president. The policies and positions are the same."
Mr. Fehrnstrom's comment, Mr. Romney explained, were not meant to
convey a change of position — Mr. Romney trying to return to the
middle after tacking further right during the primary, for instance —
so much as the way a campaign inherently evolves between the primary
and the general election.
"When the campaign moves to becoming a general election campaign, the
nature of the campaign itself, in terms of staff, funding, the states
we'll go to, will be different than today, obviously," Mr. Romney
said. "It's a much larger campaign, fund-raising numbers are very
different. We now work with the Republican National Committee instead
of apart from any committee of that nature, so organizationally, a
general election campaign takes on a different profile."
Earlier, as he shook hands on the rope line, Mr. Romney was asked to
comment on Mr. Fehrnstrom's remark. After trying to ignore the
question, Mr. Romney turned to the reporter and said, politely but
firmly, "I'm not doing a press conference right now, O.K.?"
Although he later relented — for one question, at least — the Etch a
Sketch comment threatened to overshadow Mr. Romney's big win in the
Illinois primary on Tuesday night and the coveted endorsement of Mr.
Bush on Wednesday, not to mention his victory Saturday in Puerto
Rico's caucuses.
"It's an honor to be here with you and to have come fresh from a
couple of great things — Puerto Rico, Illinois, those went pretty darn
well," an ebullient Mr. Romney said. "Just before we left to fly here
this morning, Ann and I were together, it is our anniversary, and, my
cellphone rang and I looked at it and it just said Jeb on it. I picked
up the phone and it was Jeb Bush. And he said — I didn't even have to
ask — he said, 'Mitt, I want to let you know I'm endorsing you
today.'"
Later, he said the endorsement came as "a delightful surprise."
Mr. Romney, in response to a question about the bank bailout, said he
felt that President George W. Bush and his treasury secretary, Hank
Paulson, had taken the correct steps in authorizing the Troubled Asset
Relief Program, known as TARP.
"In that circumstance, President Bush and Hank Paulson said, 'We've
got to do something to show we're not going to let the whole system go
out of business,'" Mr. Romney said. "I think they were right. I know
some people disagree with me. I think they were right to do that. They
kept — I keep hearing the president say that he's responsible for
keeping America from going into a Great Depression. No, no, no. That
was President George W. Bush and Hank Paulson."
Some people, however, were hoping to keep the Etch a Sketch story
alive. Before Mr. Romney's event, Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for
Rick Santorum, appeared in the parking lot, handing out mini Etch a
Sketches to the assembled press corps.
"Either you have conservative credentials or you don't, and the
campaign acknowledged that his conservative credentials can come and
go with the climate, or just like an Etch a Sketch," she said, the
child's toy in hand. "Now he's talking a different language, but the
campaign acknowledged if need be, if he won the primary, he would go
right back to the middle in order to win the general."
More:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/romney-tries-to-move-spotlight-off-etch-a-sketch/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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