Victor's meeting with the governor is affable

He's not gone, but seems not quite here, either.

As a buoyant Governor-elect Deval L . Patrick drew huge interest and enthusiasm yesterday on Beacon Hill, Governor Mitt Romney began a new phase of life as a lame duck in a state from which he seems increasingly distant.

With eight weeks left in the corner office, Romney met with Patrick to start handing over the reins. He offered the Democrat's transition team office space and showed Patrick around the executive offices.

Afterward, at a press conference with Patrick, Romney carried himself with the equanimity of a chief executive who has just sold his company to another owner and is putting his headaches behind him. He refused to address the Republican losses of Tuesday or the presidential election of 2008, in which he is likely to run.

"I can't imagine anything more fun than being governor of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts," Romney said.

Yet there was not a huge amount of fun in the air when Romney appeared at the meeting of the Governor's Council just an hour after the joint appearance. Romney presided over the meeting because Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey was taking a rest after her resounding defeat by Patrick, and the governor sped through the 15-minute proceedings with efficiency and a minimum of pleasantries.

While a media horde gathered at the Omni Parker House at the foot of Beacon Hill to hear Patrick speak, Romney was met by three reporters outside the council meeting.

As with his appearance with Patrick, Romney stayed strictly on message. He refused to acknowledge ambitions beyond such matters as removing the tolls from a section of the Massachusetts Turnpike and preparing budget materials for his successor. This was Patrick's moment, he said.

Asked to reflect on the day, Romney said that he was proud of his accomplishments in healthcare and education, that it had been satisfying "to make a difference in people's lives."

"It has been heart-rending," he added, "to go to more than 40 funerals of lost servicemen and to see the pain and suffering of their families, but also their pride and honor."

The governor, who has traveled frequently to key Republican primary states, was asked if he had any upcoming travel plans. The only journeys he would own up to were family trips to California and Salt Lake City for the holidays. He did not mention that he is traveling to Detroit today, for an appearance before the Detroit Chamber of Commerce.

While at the State House yesterday, Romney refused to acknowledge the elephantine aspirations in the room. Pressed on whether he could really think of no job more fun than being governor of Massachusetts, he offered, "Father and husband is the best."

A couple of hours later, it was a different story.

In the early afternoon, the governor headed down to the School Street headquarters of the Commonwealth PAC, the organization that is helping Romney travel the country and boost his profile with Republicans in key states. He spent time making calls to GOP candidates across the country for whom he campaigned.

Around 3 p.m., the governor sent a statement to local and national media weighing in on Tuesday's election results: Republicans lost not because voters across the country had rejected conservatism, he said, but because Republican candidates had failed to maintain their resolve.

"Americans . . . want leadership with conservative principles," Romney's statement read. "I'm keeping my eyes on the horizon -- where the future is and where America is going."