Democrats Gear Up Against Romney

By Rob Graham

He is good looking. He is smart. He is eloquent, and the Democrats are taking no chances in being unprepared for a Mitt Romney presidential run. According to recent news reports, the Democratic National Committee has requested volumes of public material from the Massachusetts state government in order to carefully examine Romney's record. At the same time, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, an openly gay member of the House of Representatives, has gone on the attack against Romney.

"Romney sees himself as having the best chance to be an alternative to McCain," Frank said. "He's moved way conservative. That's his strategy."

With all of the attention Mitt Romney is getting from the Democrats, it is a sure bet they see Romney as the Republican front runner coming into the 2008 presidential election.

Frank said Romney is targeting conservatives who dominate the Republican presidential primary process, trying to become the right-wing alternative to Arizona Sen. John McCain.

With McCain failing to raise money, he is seen by Democrats as being too old and too politically weak to make a serious bid for the presidency. That leaves the door open to two major candidates, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Though Giuliani has a strong leadership history, including a dynamic burst after the 9/11 terrorist attack, he is plagued by his pro-choice position on abortion, his support of gay rights, his marital indiscretions, and his current membership on the Trilateral Commission. The Christian Coalition has already indicated that they will not support his candidacy.

Despite his drawbacks, Giuliani still has a high level of name recognition. A recent CNN poll found that 30% of currently registered Republicans would vote for Giuliani if he ran today. The flip-side of that argument is that 70% of registered Republicans would not vote for Giuliani. That means that Giuliani might not survive the Republican primaries to reach the general election.

In contrast, the Democrats are assuming that Mitt Romney's only two problems are name recognition and his religious affiliation with the Mormon church. Democrats are betting that southern Christians will have less of a difficult time voting for a Mormon with their same values and morals than a Catholic with a history of immorality and a pro-abortion agenda. Democrats point out the success of Harry Reid and Senator Hatch as an example of how the religion issue may not be a serious factor on the national scene, especially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has become more mainstream in recent years and has an ever-increasing membership in the United States.

That would leave only one obstacle to Mitt Romney: his name recognition.

According to a recent article in the Boston Herald, Romney is seen as the dark horse in a field of current candidates. Again, the article cited name recognition as being his only challenge.

But it is perhaps the underlying movement that one has to examine to determine if Romney is the soon-to-be nemesis of the Democrats. One needs look no further than Dunkin' Donuts. It is rumored that the recent $2.45 billion acquisition of Dunkin' Donuts by Bain Capital and the Carlyle Group is a quiet marriage made between the Bush and Romney Families. Until recently, Bain Capital was run by Romney and it is widely speculated that the Bush family has a substantial role in the Carlyle Group.

You can almost see the puzzle pieces falling together. Picture a conversation between former President Bush and his wife Barbara:

"You know cookie," says George senior, "I really like this boy ‘Mitch' Romney. He reminds me a lot of Jack Kennedy, except he actually lives his religion."

"It's Mitt Romney dear, and yes, I agree that he does look like he has the right stuff," replies Barbara. "You know if Jeb is to ever get into the White House it will have to be an end-run. I wonder . . . if we get behind this Romney, perhaps he would consider taking Jeb as a VP."

"That's a swell idea, Barb. What we need to do is invest in this young man's future. If I'm not mistaken, he used to run an investment capital company. I'll call my friend over at Carlyle and let's see if we can't connect somehow on a joint venture. But it has to be something very discrete"

"I'm way ahead of you," Barbara chuckles. "I called Jeb this morning and asked him what we could buy together with a Mormon governor and he was thinking of something wholesome, like Dunkin' Donuts. I think we could fly below the radar on that one."

"Barb, you never cease to amaze me," quips George senior. "This Romney and our Jeb will be a great match. And, of course, Jeb will be the obvious successor."

"Obviously."

As far as speculation goes, that is about as good as it gets!