Romney left Mass. on 212 days in '06
Visited 35 states; built a national network
Laying the foundation of a presidential candidacy, Governor Mitt Romney has spent all or part of 212 days outside Massachusetts so far in 2006, an average of more than four days on the road each week, a Globe review of his public schedules shows.
Since announcing a year ago he would not seek reelection, Romney has been a one-man barnstorming show, traveling to 35 states and eight countries and logging well over 200,000 air miles.
Using funds from his umbrella network of political action committees -- technically created to raise money for local, state, and federal Republican candidates -- he has also built and sustained the infrastructure of a national campaign, retaining a paid staff of at least 17 and a large group of consultants, operating on the ground in eight states. The PAC donated to candidates in states crucial to a presidential campaign, while ignoring others in close races.
The activity in support of the Romney effort has been concentrated in states with early delegate selection contests in the Republican presidential nominating process, which begins in a little more than a year with the caucuses in Iowa.
Romney's PAC efforts, combined with his chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association, have enabled him to establish beachheads in states where Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of his potential GOP rivals, is better known and has been spending money from his own federal PAC.
Romney will spend the rest of the year with his family at their vacation home in Utah before his term ends Jan. 4; by year's end he will have been out of the state all or part of 219 days this year. He is expected to announce his presidential intentions next month, perhaps as early as Jan. 2.
Defending Romney's frequent absences the past year, Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's communications director, said: "Governor Romney is a national leader in the Republican Party. He was increasingly called upon to help candidates from his party, and he took a leadership role in the Republican Governors Association."
The overwhelming majority of Romney's trips were purely political, related to the governors' association, raising money for his PAC, or testing the waters for a presidential bid, a Globe review of his 2006 schedule indicates.
During a frenzied, 25-day period of stumping in the days before the Nov. 7 election, Romney touched down in 21 states, from Maine to Oregon, plus the District of Columbia. He hit Michigan four times and South Carolina, Maryland, and Wisconsin twice each.
Some trips this year may have had indirect political benefits -- such as attending the elevation of Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Rome and making US-government-sponsored visits to troops and officials in Iraq and Afghanistan and a detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Romney, who headed the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, also attended the 2006 Olympics in Italy and recently returned from a semi official visit to Japan, Korea, and China, which he paid for himself.
Besides his current stay in Utah, Romney also took a four-day vacation in Alaska and other trips to Utah, Michigan, and California, variously described on his schedules as a mixture of family time and political activity. He has said he plans to discuss his presidential aspirations with his family during his visit in Utah this week.
Romney's ever-present State Police security detail accompanies him out of state; Fehrnstrom said he did not know the cost but the charge to the state was "minimized." In June, the Globe reported that the cost of travel, lodging, and meals for the troopers had increased more than 60 percent over the previous year, to $103,000 over 11 months. Since then, however, the number of Romney excursions has increased dramatically.
In October, for example, he spent only six full days and four partial days in the Bay State, his schedules show. Starting Nov. 28, he was gone for 19 of 20 days.
When he formally enters the race for the White House, Romney will have a ready-made campaign apparatus assembled and paid for by The Commonwealth PAC, the Romney vehicle established in 2004 to support "electing Republican candidates across America," according to its website.
Using political action committees to set up the early structure for presidential candidates is legal and common, though Romney has expanded their use by placing Commonwealth PAC affiliates in several states. As a presidential candidate, he would have to resign as chairman of the PAC but they could still distribute funds to others, said Jared G. Young, spokesman for Commonwealth PAC.
Most recent reports filed by Romney's federal PAC and active PACs in five states show unspent balances totaling $2.6 million in November or October, depending on the filing deadline in the various states. Under Federal Election Commission regulations, the funds cannot be transferred to a presidential committee should Romney make an announcement.
The Commonwealth PAC has collectively spent about $6 million, distributing about $1.3 million to some 400 candidates in 36 states and about 300 GOP committees at the state, county, and local levels. Besides payroll, consultants, fund-raising, and legal costs, the PAC spent heavily to transport Romney and aides. In 2006, alone, more than $400,000 was spent on commercial airfares and charter flights.
Some donations also went to conservative advocacy groups in targeted states. In South Carolina, the first southern primary state, the PAC contributions included $5,000 to the Palmetto Family Committee, which led the ballot question campaign to outlaw gay marriage in that state. In Iowa, the state PAC donated $1,000 to the Christian Coalition of Iowa.
By far, the largest single beneficiary of the Romney PAC has been US Representative Jim Nussle of Iowa, who lost to Democrat Chet Culver in the race to succeed Democratic Governor Thomas J. Vilsack , already an announced presidential candidate. Romney's Iowa PAC kicked in $130,000 to Nussle's gubernatorial warchest, accounting for 30 percent of the $437,500 given to GOP interests in the kickoff state for the presidential contest.
Other big donations went to the Republican parties of Romney's native Michigan ($49,500) and the first primary state, New Hampshire ($20,000). By state, candidates, and party committees in the following states were the chief recipients of Commonwealth PAC largesse: Iowa and Michigan ($276,165), New Hampshire ($164,150), South Carolina ($144,500), and Alabama ($143,500), which is planning a primary in February 2008. The PAC established an Alabama outlet last summer and dumped slightly more money into state races than McCain, whose leadership PAC effort in Alabama began earlier than Romney's.
The stated purpose of the Commonwealth PAC is to elect GOP candidates, but its indirect goal of raising Romney's profile and amassing chits, or at the very least good will, is apparent from an analysis of PAC spending this year.
For example, the PAC chipped in $5,000 to the campaign committee of freshman US Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who wasn't on the ballot this year and won't be until 2010. By contrast, the PAC gave only $1,000 to Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and $3,000 to Mike DeWine of Ohio, both Republican senators who lost in November.
Three-term GOP Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, who lost a squeaker to Democrat Jon Tester, didn't get a dime of Commonwealth PAC money. Romney's PAC did make donations to the other vulnerable Republican senators who were ousted -- Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania ($8,000), Jim Talent of Missouri ($6,000), and George Allen of Virginia ($5,000).
In New Hampshire, where Republicans suffered the worst blowout in the nation at the polls in November, losing both congressional seats, both houses of the Legislature, and the Executive Council, Romney's PAC paid nearly as much to a newly recruited and prized New Hampshire supporter as it did on candidates this year.
In September and October, the PAC paid $104,895 in consulting fees to The Rath Group, an adjunct of the Concord, N.H., law firm of Tom Rath, a member of the Republican National Committee and adviser to many presidential candidates over the years. Rath, who will officially step down from the Republican National Committee next month, said he and an associate provide services that include fund-raising.
The PAC's other consultants include Capital Campaigns, the California-based shop of Anne Dunsmore, a GOP fund-raiser, which has been paid at least $75,000 this year from the various PACs, and SJZ LLC, a corporation set up by Spencer J. Zwick, one of Romney's most trusted aides. Zwick is a Utah native who formerly assisted Romney at the Olympics in Utah and as his deputy chief of staff at the State House. He and his firm have been paid at least $343,952 this year in pro-rated amounts from the federal PAC and five state PACs, records show.
Young, the PAC spokesman, said he believes Zwick has two employees paid from those funds.
Brian C. Mooney can be reached at bmooney@globe.com. 