Amid fanfare, Romney leaves lasting images

LOWELL -- It was supposed to be Kerry Healey's day. But before she took the stage, the state party showed a video tribute to Governor Mitt Romney that suggested his mind has already moved past his governorship and on to bigger things.

The 11-minute video included dramatic shots of Romney walking alongside President Bush at the 2002 Winter Olympics and emotional footage of the ruined World Trade Center just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The point, of course, was that Romney kept the Olympic Games safe for the world.

When it was over, delegates were buzzing with certainty about his next move.

''You can tell that he's running for president," said Rob Eno, 32, of East Boston, who liked the video, calling it a fitting salute as Romney closes out his tenure as governor.

But others saw it as a bit self-serving.

''This is not the place for it," said Albert Gammal, a former state representative who lives in Worcester. ''His mind is somewhere else. This should have been for us."

Romney, who announced in December that he would not seek reelection, has usually overshadowed Healey, leaving her to tend to city and town officials and some housing and criminal justice issues. Yesterday, he called her a ''great partner" who ''took the toughest assignments" and pushed for tightening penalties for drunk drivers, sex offenders, and gangs.

But even as he spoke, slides of Romney's glory days flashed on a huge screen hanging behind him: Romney greeting President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, speaking alongside a group of naval officers, looking contemplative at a law enforcement memorial.

The video, which played before Romney's speech, gave Healey little face time. When she did appear, she was applauding in the background, her face slightly blurred. The video was produced by GOP ad man Alex Castellanos and Cold Harbor Productions for the Massachusetts Republican Party.

It began with a dark and threatening view through the windshield of a car driving through the rain in a Gotham-like Boston. Ahead, the State House dome glowed an ugly gold.

''Just four years ago, Massachusetts faced a looming $3 billion deficit," a narrator intones, in movie-trailer bass. ''But the man the state chose to meet this crisis had experience turning things around."

Alternating between grainy black-and-white pictures of the State House and crisp color shots of Romney giving speeches and pointing to charts, the video described Romney's background as a businessman who saved companies from collapsing, and the Olympics from financial disarray -- and from a terrorist threat.

Some of the delegates were amused by the sequence that strung together 9/11, Bush, and the Olympics. ''It was a great commercial -- a bit of a stretch, but still good," said Jack Prindiville, 73, a delegate from Framingham, chuckling. ''He wasn't even governor then. He wasn't even running for office."

In addition to highlighting Romney's work on everything from healthcare to education, the video also featured the governor and his wife, Ann, talking about their high school romance, their grandchildren, and her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis.

It had Ann laughing as she tried to remember how long the two had been a couple -- until Romney reminded her: ''37 years."

Romney's staff has staged events such as this one in the past, and the governor has an aw-shucks response at the ready.

Just as he professed amused modesty at the ''over-the-top" Faneuil Hall signing of the state's landmark healthcare bill earlier this month, Romney struck a humble pose when the video ended.

''I'm not sure I was ever that good, but it was an honor to see something like that," he said.

Tim O'Brien, a spokesman for Healey, said the lieutenant governor had no complaints.

''The tribute was done by the Massachusetts Republican Party for Governor Romney, who has been a tremendous leader for our Commonwealth," he said. ''And we are proud to have his support."

Yet the choreography of the convention did not offer any opportunities for Healey and Romney to appear onstage together.

Romney and his wife appeared at a midmorning press conference that drew a horde of reporters. Healey was nowhere to be found. A bevy of speakers separated the governor's moment onstage from Healey's.

While Healey stuck around to greet delegates after the speeches were over, Romney left early. He made a quick stop at home before boarding a plane to Washington, where he planned to attend the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last night.