Romney Finds "Happy Place" with Editorial
December 18, 2011 | 5:56 AM
For Mitt Romney, the pages of the Des Moines Register must be his "happy place."
After Thursday night's GOP debate in Sioux City, Iowa, I wrote that the presidential candidate adapted a risky strategy by not criticizing candidate-of-the-moment Newt Gingrich: "Time will tell whether Romney deftly avoided
going negative in a state that values politeness -- or whether he
squandered a chance to show worried supporters that he has the passion
it takes to win the presidency."After filing the analysis, I cornered Romney adviser Stuart Stevens in the so-called spin room and asked whether the strategy reflected Romney's confidence in winning. "We're in a happy place," he said. "Seriously, we didn't want the last impression people had before Christmas to be our candidate beating up on another candidate. People here don't like that."
Now I wonder if the Romney camp had an idea that the Des Moines Register might endorse the former Massachusetts governor. The newspaper's editorial today certainly does seem to validate the strategy.
"Sobriety, wisdom and judgment. Those are qualities Mitt Romney said he looks for in a leader," reads the editorial, which put Romney's flip-flops in the most positive light. "Those are qualities Romney himself has demonstrated in his career in business, public service and government."
The editorial calls Gingrich "an undisciplined partisan who would alienate, not unite, if he reverts to mean-spirited attacks ... ." There it is: Romney didn't need to say it himself to Gingrich's face. A happy place, indeed.
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