Romney praise of Bush proving a key strategy
Tactic could lift campaign above rivals'
More than any other Republican presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney is running as the candidate friendliest to President Bush, surrounding himself with former Bush advisers, delivering his most closely watched speech at the presidential library of the president's father, and this week launching a staunch defense of Bush's Iraq policy.
In part, the strategy helps him distinguish himself from rival Mike Huckabee, who this week criticized Bush's foreign policy as "arrogant" and indicative of a "bunker mentality." Yesterday, Romney's campaign sent reporters a copy of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments blasting Huckabee's criticism as "just simply ludicrous."
Romney is not casting himself as Bush's heir nor fully embracing his legacy, but rather selectively aligning himself with the president on issues that appeal to loyal Republican voters, who continue to hold Bush in high regard and who will largely decide the party's nominee.
Yesterday, for instance, his campaign issued a statement applauding Bush for standing up against pork-barrel spending - a hot button issue for Republicans, who give Bush a 60 percent approval rating, compared with 30 percent for voters overall.
In contrast, he distances himself from Bush on issues that are unpopular with Republicans, such as Bush's failed plan to offer a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which Romney has criticized as tantamount to amnesty.
"I think the feeling among the Romney people is that this is a prudent strategy that will activate the people who still line up with the president and that it doesn't involve much of a risk," said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist.
"What it does is ingratiate him with most of the party activists and most of the hard-core conservatives in his party."
But the strategy could backfire if Romney aligns himself too closely with Bush in an unsettled election in which many Republicans are still looking for a fresh voice and a new direction, said Matthew Dowd, who was Bush's pollster in the 2004 presidential campaign and is not affiliated with a candidate in this election.
"Voters are putting a premium on - in both the primary and general election - a sense of authenticity, someone who will say what they believe and be principled," said Dowd, now an ABC News contributor.
"And I don't think siding with the president demonstrates that. To me, it has a political feel to it."
Romney will also face risks if he wins the nomination and needs to court independents and moderates in a general election, analysts say.
"Lining up with the president in the primary is almost all upside. In the general election it becomes a trickier path to navigate," said Dan Schnur, a Republican strategist who is not affiliated with any presidential campaign.
"This is precisely the problem Al Gore faced eight years ago. In the Democratic primary, he held on to Bill Clinton's coattails very tightly. In the general election, he was much more careful about it."
Romney has close ties to the president. He helped lead Bush's reelection campaign in Massachusetts in 2004. He has signed up former Bush aides for his campaign. And he has courted former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who still controls a large political organization in that state and his hired several of his former aides.
Romney was welcomed into the Bush fold when he delivered his nationally televised speech on faith and politics on Dec. 6 at former president George H.W. Bush's presidential library in Texas. Former president Bush led Romney on to the stage and warmly introduced him as a "good man" and part of a "great American family."
This week, Romney returned the warmth, defending President Bush against Huckabee's criticism of his foreign policy. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, Romney demanded that Huckabee apologize, saying his comments "went over the line." Huckabee rejected the demand, saying he has to show he is his own man.
Campaigning in Davenport, Iowa, this week, Romney picked up the theme again.
"I believe that the president has acted in good faith and out of a desire to protect this country to do everything in his power to keep America safe," he said.
On Wednesday, he offered some of his strongest praise yet of Bush.
In an opinion piece titled "America's President Deserves Thanks And Respect," Romney lamented that "it is easy and popular to attack the president when he is down in the opinion polls."
"We are thankful we live in a nation that is still a land of freedom, hope and opportunity," Romney wrote in the piece, published on townhall.com, a conservative political website.
"And we can be thankful that President Bush has kept us safe. Too often our politicians in Washington and on the campaign trail seem to have forgotten this simple fact."
Romney has balanced that message with concessions that Bush has made mistakes in Iraq and with oft-repeated call for Republicans to change what is wrong in Washington.
But Schnur, who was John McCain's spokesman in the 2000 presidential campaign, said Romney is careful not to mention Bush when he calls for a new direction.
"The candidates are all taking about change," Schnur said, "but they're very careful not to talk in very specific terms about change from what."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 