Is there another Romnney in Massachusetts — and perhaps the national political scene’s — future? Is this a Romney with far less political baggage and far more difficult for satirists and Democrats to lampoon that Mitt “Mr. 47 Percenter” Romney?
According to the Boston Herald, there may well be. The paper reports that Mitt Romney’s son — the son who was his family’s other high profile political player in the media and whose political role with his father was akin to Mitt Romney’s role with his father former Michigan Gov. George Romney — is seriously pondering running for Senate.
UPDATE: But this report has now been contradicted (I will leave in the original report below including what I said about the earlier report seeming to be credible since I don’t erase my previous analyses.). ABC NEWS:
Ready for another Romney run?
Tagg Romney is not.
Boston Herald reported today that the eldest son of Mitt and Ann Romney is considering a run in the special Senate election in Massachusetts now that former senator Scott Brown decided against a run last week.
Two sources close to both Tagg and his father Mitt tell ABC News it’s not going to happen. One consideration for Tagg Romney may be that his father lost the Bay State in last year’s presidential election by 23 points.
(Two sources is considered by many editors THE MINIMUM required on major reporting revelations. It must be CONFIRMED by another source.)
“I think Tagg would be a great candidate,” a source close to both Romneys said. “He grew tremendously in the campaign, but with his company it’s unlikely he can afford to walk away from it right now, sadly.”
Tagg Romney, 42, started the venture capital firm Solamere Capital after his father’s last unsuccessful campaign in 2008. In both campaigns he advised his father and worked hard to get his dad to the White House. During this run he had an even more critical role.
Tagg Romney and his wife Jen had twin sons via a surrogate in May, juggling newborns as well as a presidential campaign.
A Republican strategist with knowledge of state party discussions also told ABC News he seriously doubted the likelihood of any Romney candidacy in the upcoming Senate election.
Here’s the rest of the original post reacting to the Boston Herald saying Romney was seriously considering running:
If so, it could turn the election for someone to do the full term in what was until last week Senator John Kerry’s seat not just a horserace but a race with longeterm implications for the GOP and perhaps national political scene.
Could it happen? If you’ve been in journalism this report is not just a speculative report but a kind of feeler for testing the political waters and media reaction. If Tagg Romney reads this report (and who thinks he hasn’t?) there’s nothing to discourage him here:
Tagg Romney is considering a run in the special Senate election now that Scott Brown has opted out, the Truth Squad has learned.
The eldest son of former governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney already has statewide name recognition and could quickly ramp up the campaign infrastructure for a short, five-month race.
Plus, as duly noted above, he won’t have so much baggage that TSA has to open an office in his home as they had to do with his Dad.
Calls for Romney, 42, to join in the short campaign to replace Secretary of State John F. Kerry have increased since the Herald first reported heavyweight Republicans are urging both Romney and his mother, Ann, to get in.
The eldest son of former governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney already has statewide name recognition and could quickly ramp up the campaign infrastructure for a short, five-month race.
The father of six was a regular on the campaign trail in both of his father’s failed races for president in 2008 and 2012, which would give him some political know-how while working to win over Bay State voters. But the younger Romney is weighing joining the fray against remaining with his successful venture capital firm, Solamere. Many Democrats also have noted Mitt Romney’s dismal Bay State returns in the most recent presidential election, losing the state by 23 points.
There is no doubt that Tagg Romney, if he decides to run, could be a shining knight to crestfallen Republicans who had set their hopes on Brown. State GOP officials are scrambling to find a viable candidate, despite a lackluster Democratic primary field that includes U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey and Stephen F. Lynch, and might be further strained by the entrance of Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone.
Tagg Romney, who has been fairly silent on Twitter since his father’s loss in November, seems to be bolstering his profile. He even posted a pic on Saturday of his two sons getting a haircut at Frank’s Barbershop in Belmont, a neighborhood staple.
It needs to be remembered that Tagg Romney was reportedly one of the key people within the Romney campaign who did not care for the way the elder Romney was being packaged by consultants. He had wanted his Dad to tell more of a personal story and edge closer to the center. Some analysts suggest that the Romney that magically popped forth in the first debate with President Barack Obama — a Romney who had seemingly jettisoned (and in some cases denied) his past positions — was the kind of candidate Tagg Romney had wanted to run in the race.
Now Romney may get a chance to present a third generation of Romney’s to voters. Which raises two questions:
1. Will he be more faithful to himself and his core political beliefs than by most biographical accounts Mitt Romney was?
2. As he leaves pictures of his two sons getting haircuts, is he the person who can give the Massachusetts GOP a “do” over and appeal to enough Democrats who had voted against his father to win the seat?
Look for this race to get mega media attention if Romney runs — and if he runs more to the center become a political darling of the Republican establishment, which is still trying to find a way to stave off but not lose the support of Tea Partiers.
And then there’s this thought? Two Romney’s tried for national political office?
If he runs and wins in the future will the third time be the charm?
FOOTNOTE: Tagg Romney would be a better candidate than Ann Romney. Ann Romney, while popular, was lampooned widely due to some her comments asking that GOP critics “stop it” in criticism of Mitt Romney. Of the other members of the Romney camp, reports suggested Tagg was the most political of the family. And with the exception of his comment during his father’s losing campaign that he’d like to punch Barack Obama (for which he apologized to Obama) he hasn’t been a big satirists’ target (yet).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.