KENTWOOD, Michigan – Mitt Romney’s Michigan homecoming as its native son is not going quite the way he had planned.
Returning to the state for a business roundtable and a rally on Wednesday evening for the first time since November, Mr Romney, who grew up the son of an auto executive turned governor of Michigan, landed here to find a tightening race in his home state, where Rick Santorum is leading in many polls less than two weeks from the primary.
In a race that has been defined by fits of momentum from the various candidates, Michigan now represents a critical proving ground for the remaining Republicans, but particularly for Mr Romney.
Mr Romney’s father, George, is still fondly remembered here from his time as governor, and Mr Romney won the state by nine percentage points in 2008. His aides liked to crow that he “found his voice” here four years ago. A loss could prove devastating at worst, and embarrassing at the very least.
And Mr Santorum, who is still riding a wave of momentum from his triple victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week, started campaigning in Michigan yesterday to convince reluctant Republican voters that he has what it takes to beat Mr Romney as well as President Barack Obama in November.
There are few reliable polls in the state, but strategists for both campaigns say the race will be intensely competitive.
His campaign released a list on Wednesday of 129 local officials in Michigan who had endorsed Mr Romney, which aides said was part of a strategy to showcase the breadth and depth of his support across the state. The governor, Rick Snyder, joined the endorsements yesterday.
Despite Mr Romney’s deep advantages in the state, the forces that have reshaped the Republican Party across the country are also alive in Michigan. The state is not only drastically different from the place his father led as a three-term governor a half-century ago, but it has even changed significantly from five years ago this week, when Mr Romney announced his first presidential bid at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
The populist sentiment that has propelled the Tea Party movement nationally is also coursing through Michigan politics. Mr Santorum, who is heavily promoting his working-class background, hopes to tap into those well-organised activists, along with a heavily Catholic and evangelical population in the Republican electorate.
The strength of the Tea Party movement, which demonstrated its clout during the 2010 midterm elections, will be tested in the February 28th primary. “I think Romney is facing an uphill battle with Tea Party groups,” said Wendy Day, the president of Common Sense in Government, a statewide Tea Party organisation with a 2,500-member email list.
“The challenge I have with Romney is that his unrepentant attitude toward the healthcare issue is very difficult to swallow.”
A strength for Mr Romney rests in Detroit and its suburbs, but the state’s 30 delegates also are awarded by congressional district, which makes all regions important. At a rally on Wednesday, he played up his local roots.
“I visited every county in Michigan, I think more than once, on my dad’s campaign, and my mom’s campaign,” he told the crowd. “I love Michigan.”
Highlighting the importance of the state, the advertising wars have already begun here, with a pro-Romney super-PAC going up with a $460,000 campaign criticising Mr Santorum as a "Washington insider". Mr Santorum responded with a humorous commercial that features Mr Romney as a Rambo-style action hero splattering his opponent with mud. – ( New York Times)