Under media glare, Romney shines

Who knew that undercut anchor bolts could make such gripping television? Ten cameras were trained on Governor Mitt Romney at the State House yesterday as he dropped the latest Big Dig bombshell: He had ordered an immediate shutdown of the eastbound side of Ted Williams Tunnel.

Brandishing photographs of faulty bolts for the cameras, he explained: ``This section here should be flush against the ceiling, and it's not."

Showing a striking command of engineering lingo, he described a temporary fix as ``an ARVA truck."

``It happens to be about 11 1/2 feet wide when the stabilizing elements are extended," Romney said.

Reminded by reporters that critics are questioning the independence of the Big Dig inspectors, he shot back: ``I'm not quite sure who they have in mind as independent agencies, other than someone from Mars."

Since falling concrete killed a woman in the I-90 connector 11 days ago, Romney has become the undisputed king of the news cycle. Yesterday was his seventh press conference on the crisis, not counting numerous press availabilities after striding into the tunnel for a look, clad in a hard hat and safety vest.

The former corporate titan has portrayed himself as the Captain of the Ship of State, exuding confidence and promising a ``stem to stern,' independent investigation of the tunnels. He has mastered the basic engineering concepts of the repairs, and he seems seized with an almost evangelical desire to explain it to the public.

For viewers, it may be somewhat startling to suddenly see so much of the governor, who has been traveling around the country exploring a presidential campaign for much of the year.

But the governor, who ran on his successful takeover of the scandal-ridden 2002 Olympic Games, clearly finds a crisis invigorating. He has not ruled the airwaves with such authority since last September, when he was marshaling contingents of officials and volunteers to receive Hurricane Katrina evacuees at Camp Edwards.

This time, his audience is not just concerned citizens, but furious taxpayers.

``At some point," he said at a press conference the other day, ``the pressure builds and builds and builds, and the public gets angry enough that they say, you know, this really is wrong."

Romney is usually flanked by his transportation secretary, John Cogliano, or Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. Healey rarely speaks, and Romney only invites Cogliano to speak up after the cameras have been rolling for a long while.

The only other politician who has managed to grab some of the media attention is Thomas F. Reilly, the decidedly less flashy attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who is helping to oversee criminal investigations of the collapse. His prominent role in the story of the summer has given him a priceless quantity of free media.

Reilly has had at least two formal press conferences since the accident and has been a presence at the tunnel, as well. But in stark contrast to the governor, he operates in classic Joe Friday style. He has appeared in his shirt-sleeves by the side of the connector tunnel, somberly trying to describe the latest wrinkle in his case, without giving away too much.

Squinting into the afternoon sun alongside the I-90 connector at a press availability on Monday, Reilly looked every inch the prosecutor as he announced investigators had uncovered a dispute that arose years ago about whether the bolt system was safe.

As soon as he stopped speaking, the reporters cried in chorus: ``Can you be more specific?"

``Not at this point," he said soberly. ``Not at this point."

The contrast with Romney is striking, said Joseph Tecce, a professor of psychology at Boston College who analyzed clips of Romney and Reilly with the sound off.

Tecce found that Reilly blinked his eyes about 80 times per minute, 2 1/2 times the normal rate, suggesting that the attorney general ``is very, very stressed," Tecce said.

Romney, on the other hand, blinked about 30 times a minute, Tecce said, at the low end of the normal range, suggesting ``that he was in control of the situation, that he felt comfortable in what he was saying."

Eventually, the exposure has the potential to hurt both politicians.

Reilly is under pressure to produce culprits, and Romney has now taken responsibility for an infamously troubled collection of tunnels and the largest public infrastructure project in the country. Both men stand to lose valuable campaign time if the problem drags on and the public loses interest.

But for now, that's not likely to happen. Maggie Hennessey-Nees, a spokeswoman for Fox 25 News, said this week that her station evaluates each news item on its own merits, but that the station has covered most press conferences live.

``It's still a huge news story, and it will continue to be one," she said.