|PersonalizeThe Washington PostCampaignsCongressCourts &LawThe Fed PageHealth CarePollingWhite HouseWho Runs GovBlogs & ColumnsIn the NewsRon Paul Cheri Daniels Newt Gingrich facts A Mormon president? Situation room TWP_Debug.pagedebug && window.console && console.log && console.log('[' + (new Date()-TWP_Debug.initialTime)/1000 + ']' + ' skeleton - start');Romney plods ahead quietly in 2012 presidential race, but attacks are coming
View Photo Gallery — Who’s in and who’s out?:?Republicans are beginning to announce whether they will pursue a bid for the presidency.
Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Dan Balz, MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rarely has a candidate who is seen as a front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination been as invisible as Mitt Romney.
That alone made it noteworthy when the former Massachusetts governor showed up here Friday night to participate in a forum with four other prospective candidates — most notably former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. It was just Romney’s second public appearance this year in the state that as much as any other will be crucial to his hopes of winning the 2012 GOP nomination.
Romney’s performance, before an audience that included establishment Republicans and grass-roots activists, was sound but hardly dazzling. His stump speech is a work in progress. The health-care plan he signed in Massachusetts remains a potentially big problem. His explanation does not satisfy many of the voters he will be courting in the months ahead.
Public appearances by Romney anywhere this year have been rare. He announced the formation of his campaign committee with a low-key video on his Web site. Major speeches have been fleeting (although advisers say those will come in due time), as have television appearances or interviews. When Romney has wanted to say something about an issue, he has picked the safest of all forums: the op-ed pages of major newspapers.
Events have conspired to draw attention away from Romney. Donald Trump has sucked up just about all the oxygen there is on the Republican side these days, descending from the skies here last week in a helicopter emblazoned with his name, trailed by the media pack. Spectacle becomes Trump and vice versa.
The comings and goings of other GOP candidates have taken whatever other space exists for discussion of the possible challengers to President Obama. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour out. Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) in. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels deciding. Etc. Etc.
That has worked to Romney’s benefit. “All of that takes focus off Mitt Romney so that he can just do his own thing,” said Mike Dennehy, a New Hampshire Republican strategist. “Clearly, once that focus shifts away from the entertainment into heavy primary campaign issues, then he’s going to have to start battling.”
Four years ago, Romney was setting a frenetic pace. Then, as a little-known candidate, he was scurrying from state to state, running television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, and doing everything he could to prove he deserved to be in the same league as the likes of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
This year, he runs as if he couldn’t care less what others are doing. He has chosen the issues on which he wants to speak — mostly the economy and national security — rather than feeling the need to respond to the cable catnip of the day. Four years ago his team wanted to win every news cycle. This year they operate with seeming indifference to whatever may be trending politically on Twitter.
Romney has managed to avoid engaging his rivals, meaning he can concentrate his fire on the president. “They haven’t been forced out into the open yet, which I think is unexpected and remarkable,” said Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman.
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