Despite his furious pace of campaigning, Mitt Romney told Republicans in Iowa recently that traveling the country gave him energy. Yes, he said, it's tiring, but it's also exhilarating to be at town hall meetings like this one in West Des Moines. "I become more optimistic about our future," he said. Here's a clip of the event Romney's campaign posted on YouTube.

The big question in the GOP primary race now is how Fred Thompson's candidacy will shake things up. Different observers have different takes on who Thompson hurts the most, but David Yepsen, the columinst-sage for the Des Moines Register, wonders if it's Mitt Romney. Yepsen compares two recent polls of Iowa Republicans.

"When you compare the findings of the two polls, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain actually increase their support if Thompson is in the race. Romney drops," Yepsen writes.

Meanwhile, Romney has a piece in the summer issue of Foreign Affairs laying out his foreign policy prescriptions. The weighty article pulls together some of the proposals Romney has been pushing on the campaign trail.

"We need new thinking on foreign policy and an overarching strategy that can unite the United States and its allies -- not around a particular political camp or foreign policy school but around a shared understanding of how to meet a new generation of challenges," Romney writes.

And Joe Klein of Time magazine, who was trailing Romney in New Hampshire earlier this week, pens a tough piece on the former Massachusetts governor, in which he charges that Romney "takes postures, not positions."

"There isn't the slightest hint of courage or conviction in his stump act," Klein writes.

As the old saw goes: Do as I say, not as I do.

That's the message from "Today" show co-host Matt Lauer and Mitt Romney, neither of whom apparently wore seatbelts during an in-the-car interview yesterday on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

Lauer, who was trailing Romney all day yesterday, continued his interview as Romney drove from Alton, NH, where he had spoken to high schoolers, to Laconia, NH, where he held a town hall meeting later in the day. Both were unbuckled.

On this morning's show, Lauer apologized. "It was the wrong example to set," he said. Lauer had recently challenged New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine for not wearing a seat belt during a serious crash on April 12 that left him with a broken leg and other injuries.

Romney also issued a statement apologizing for his safety lapse. "Sometimes I forget to wear my seat belt," he said. "For my own safety, I need to keep reminding myself to buckle up."