Romney's formal kick-off Tuesday

Mitt Romney will formally enter the 2008 presidential race next week with a campaign kickoff in suburban Detroit and a fund-raising gala in Boston, a campaign adviser said yesterday.

Romney, according to the adviser, will launch his White House bid Tuesday at the Ford Museum in Dearborn, a fitting backdrop for a man who grew up the son of a Michigan auto executive.

The adviser said the kickoff will begin a four-state, three-day announcement tour of Michigan, Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, all of which will be central battlegrounds in next year's Republican presidential primary.

On Thursday, Romney will return to Massachusetts and host a major fund-raiser and rally at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston, the site of a $6.5 million one-day fund-raising blitz that the former governor held last month to punctuate the creation of his presidential exploratory committee.

News of Romney's formal announcement comes as no surprise, because he's been laying the groundwork for a presidential run for more than two years, raising and distributing money around the country, hiring a phalanx of strategists and advisers, and building up teams of grass-roots organizers in several states.

But the announcement makes it clear that he is in the 2008 contest for the long haul.

Romney's decision to hold the campaign kickoff event in Michigan sends a clear signal of how important he believes his native state will be to his 2008 efforts.

He is apparently hoping that Michigan, which is considering making its primary one of the nation's earliest, will give him a major boost, because he enjoys high name recognition in the state and has many friends and supporters there.

But one of Romney's top rivals, Senator John McCain of Arizona, has strong support there, too, having won the state's Republican primary in 2000.

Romney is also in Michigan today for a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, and he will return this weekend to address the state Republican convention.

Other Republicans preparing for presidential runs include former mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, and former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.