It's no secret that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is -- smartly -- using his perch as chairman of the Republican Governors Association to spread campaign cash to states that will play a pivotal role in deciding the identity of the 2008 presidential nominee.
Romney's RGA has already donated $1 million to the state Republican Parties in Florida and Michigan. Iowa's Republican Party got $750,000. Iowa will host the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in 2008. Michigan is also primed to vote early in 2008. Florida is home to any number of influential donors and activists who are shopping for a 2008 candidate.
Need more evidence? The RGA -- through its independent expenditure arm -- is spending nearly $900,000 on ads touting Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R) -- ads that indirectly seek to shore up Romney's legacy in the state. The governor's image is all over the ads as a narrator casts the successes of the "Romney-Healey team," including a balanced budget, job creation and health insurance for all. "Why would we want to turn back?" asks the narrator at the ad's conclusion.
The expenditure of such a large lump of cash on this race is intriguing for several reasons. First, Healey, like businessman and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, has considerable personal wealth. She has pledged to spend as much as $15 million on the race, a promise that makes the RGA's spending all the more peculiar. Second, polling shows former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick with a comfortable lead over Healey.
So why would the RGA throw money at a race that looks to be a lost cause?
That same poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center for the Boston Globe, provides a clue. In it, just 40 percent of voters view Romney favorably while 48 percent saw him in an unfavorable light. Nearly half of those polled (45 percent) said the fact that Healey is Romney's lieutenant governor made them less likely to support her, while just 26 percent said that association made them more likely to vote for her.
Romney has moved to the ideological right as he winds up his term as governor and prepares for a presidential bid, forcing Healey to distance herself more and more from the positions he has taken. But, it's not in Romney's best interests to see his legacy tarnished on the verge of a run for president. A blowout loss by Healey would do just that. And don't forget that Massachusetts television (and news coverage) reaches into southern New Hampshire -- site of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
Speaking of New Hampshire, the RGA recently registered a political action committee in the Granite State with the intent of backing candidates on the "state and local level," according to the filing with the New Hampshire Secretary of State.
If the RGA spends money in New Hampshire it would be even more evidence of Romney looking out for his 2008 interests. The latest independent poll in the race showed Gov. John Lynch (D) with a 69 percent to 16 percent edge over Republican Jim Coburn.
Romney is already working hard to earn New Hampshire support for his presidential bid. On Wednesday his Commonwealth PAC released a steering committee of 58 activists in the state. That group is headed by Bruce Keough, the party's 2002 gubernatorial nominee, and Tom Rath, a longtime party activist and strategist.
Don't underestimate Romney when it comes to organization muscle. Aside from Arizona Sen. John McCain no Republican eyeing the 2008 race has spread as much money around in key states and recruited the depth of staff talent. Romney has used the last year to position himself as the McCain alternative in the field and barring some sort of major misstep he will start 2007 in great shape to make a run at the nomination.
By Chris Cillizza | October 5, 2006; 9:30 AM ET | Category: Eye on 2008
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