Romney on Romney

SAY THIS for Mitt Romney. He's a good sport.

My Wednesday morning column compared him unfavorably to Senator John McCain, the independent-minded Arizona Republican. Which could have made things a little awkward when the governor and I sat down for a scheduled chat on Wednesday afternoon.

I think it's fair to say that Mitt doesn't share my view that some of his recent stands look like presidential primary panderama; he maintains he's simply cleaving to positions enunciated in his gubernatorial campaign. Still, Romney was pretty good humored about our differing interpretations.

Getting him to discuss his political future, however, was the interrogational equivalent of extracting teeth. Only the day before, Romney had acknowledged that he's been testing the national waters. (Really? Who would have known?)

So how likely is it that he will wage a presidential campaign?

''I don't have anything more to say," the governor declared. ''What I've learned is that if I answer in any different way than I have ever answered before, it becomes a whole new story and a round of speculation, which isn't helpful to promoting the agenda that I am fighting for here in the State House."

Romney's advisers have suggested that if he decides to run for president, he will not seek re-election as governor. Asked if one campaign precluded the other, Romney replied: ''I would not run for governor and walk away mid-term. That's been done too many times. . . . So I would be honest with people about what my plans were."

Noting that he was critical of John Kerry for not resigning his Senate seat when he sought the presidency, Romney continued: ''I would think it would be incumbent on anyone who was seriously considering leaving the state before the end of the term to make that clear to the voters."

Certainly by saying he wouldn't run for governor and then walk away, Romney leaves the strong impression that he won't seek reelection and then use the governor's office to run for president.

Yet taken as a whole, Romney's statement isn't without wiggle room. Is it possible, for example, that he would run for a second term, but do so while making it clear to voters that if he won, he might then run for president?

When I tried to pin him down on exactly what he meant, Romney replied: ''I don't really have anything to add on that." Which, given the Mittster's demonstrated skills as a verbal Houdini, leaves a certain amount of doubt.

Romney was clearer on abortion, however. Despite his recent comment to USA Today that he is ''in a different place" on abortion, the governor said that, if he does run for reelection, he will reaffirm his 2002 promise not to change the state's abortion laws.

''I would make the same pledge in running for reelection," Romney said. ''I would not change the laws relating to abortion. I would keep them the same as we have now."

Asked about his evolution, the governor initially said he didn't want to engage in a philosophical discussion on the issue. I then reminded him that during his 1994 US Senate campaign, he had objected when NARAL said he wasn't prochoice because he didn't back every item on the group's abortion-rights agenda. At the time, I noted, Romney had told reporters that he had supported abortion rights as far back as his mother's 1970 campaign for the US Senate.

''We'll have to get the words exactly," the governor interjected.

So I read to Romney what he had said in 1994: ''I joined my mother in 1970 when she said she was in favor of legalizing abortion. I guess they'd say she wasn't pro-choice because we didn't have those items to vote for." As we talked further, Romney acknowledged that ''my thinking and philosophy has changed over time" on abortion and that he is ''personally prolife."

''As I've gone through the stem-cell debate and looked at cloning and so forth, has my underlying thought about my own perspective on this matter evolved? Yes," he said. ''But has my commitment as to what I will do as governor changed? No. It remains exactly the same."

And if he runs nationally would he adopt a different stand?

''I'm not running nationally," Romney replied. ''I am governor of Massachusetts, and so I have nothing to say about that speculative condition."

Not yet anyway. But stay tuned.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.