The Real Romney (50 page)

163 “The objective is”: Interview with Ross Gittell, 2007.

163 “It’s the opposite”: Interview with Marc Wolpow.

163 his claim is accurate: Interviews with Bain Capital partners, 2011.

164 “The goal of the investor”: Interview with Howard Anderson.

165 “Work was never”: Romney,
Turnaround
, 11–14.

165 “Do I really want to”: Ibid., 14.

Chapter 7: Taking On an Icon

166 knew him as “Pops”: Interview with Jim Davies, 2007; interview with Mickey Fedorko, 2011; e-mails from Davies and Fedorko, 2011.

166 “I’m so mad”: Jack Thomas, “Ann Romney’s Sweetheart Deal,”
The Boston Globe
, October 20, 1994.

166 Decades earlier: E-mail from Jim Davies, 2011.

166 “He said, ‘Ann, you’ve got’ ”: Thomas, “Ann Romney’s Sweetheart Deal.”

167 “I’ve been living here”:
Campaign Almanac
, C-SPAN, 1994.

167 “Are we going to die”: Ben Bradlee, Jr., “Romney Seeks New Chapter in Success,”
The Boston Globe
, August 7, 1994.

167 “You can gripe”: Ibid.

167 “No! No!”:
Campaign Almanac
, C-SPAN, 1994.

167 what was left to do?: Mitt Romney,
Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games
(Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2004), 14.

167 That October: Bradlee, “Romney Seeks New Chapter in Success.”

168 And Kennedy himself: Peter S. Canellos, ed.,
Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 261–281.

168 “I recognize my own shortcomings”: Curtis Wilkie, “Kennedy Admits Personal ‘Faults’ in Speech, Vows to ‘Continue to Fight the Good Fight’ for Liberal Causes,”
The Boston Globe
, October 26, 1991.

168 “There was, from the beginning”: Interview with former Kennedy staffer, 2011.

169 His face was mottled: Sally Jacobs, “Bay State Again Takes Kennedy, Flaws and All,”
The Boston Globe
, September 19, 1994.

169 “People said to me”: Interview with Mitt Romney, 2007.

169 “This,” Romney would later say: Anthony Flint and Andy Dabilis, “Senator and His Challenger Both Exploit Romney Remark,”
The Boston Globe
, October 31, 1994.

169 “He knew what the game was”: Interview with GOP operative, 2011.

170 Even before all that: Interview with Joseph Malone, 2011.

170 “a very attractive”: Interview with GOP operative.

170 “philosophically vacuous”: Don Feder, “Romney: A Thin-Gruel Republican,”
Boston Herald
, October 20, 1994.

171 “That was his entire focus”: Interview with Seth Weinroth, 2011.

171 “tame the monster”: Scot Lehigh and Frank Phillips, “GOP’s Romney Declares, Says Kennedy Out of Date,”
The Boston Globe
, February 3, 1994.

171 Early in 1994: Interview with John Lakian, 2011.

172 So the Romneys set out: Interviews with former campaign aides, 2011.

172 “We knew nobody”: Ben Bradlee, Jr., and Daniel Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race,”
The Boston Globe
, November 10, 1994.

172 a particularly popular attraction: Interviews with former campaign aides.

172 “He just made great strides”: Interview with Rick Reed, 2011.

172 The campaign organized a team: Interviews with former campaign aides.

172 “Clearly everybody understood”: Interview with Seth Weinroth.

172 “To this day”: Interview with former staffer, 2011.

172 Ann assumed the role: Interview with former aide, 2011.

173 “empty suit”: Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, “Inside Track,”
Boston Herald
, April 11, 1994.

173 “He doesn’t sit”: Interview with Michael Sununu, 2011.

173 “You kind of are”: Interview with former adviser, 2011.

173 Romney’s game plan: Interview with Seth Weinroth.

173 “Here was this”: Ibid.

173 On at least one occasion: “Sins of the Father Visited on the Son,”
The Boston Globe
, May 15, 1994.

174
The Boston Globe
published a poll: Scot Lehigh and Frank Phillips, “Poll Sees Drop-off in Kennedy Support,”
The Boston Globe
, May 14, 1994.

174 Romney used his convention speech: Frank Phillips and Peter J. Howe, “Romney Wins GOP Approval,”
The Boston Globe
, May 15, 1994.

174 “He came out and said”: Interview with John Lakian.

174 That evening: Interview with Seth Weinroth.

174 Some called on Lakian to drop out: Phillips and Howe, “Romney Wins GOP Approval.”

174 Instead he cast: Scot Lehigh, “2 Senate GOP Hopefuls Clash over Abortion Funding,”
The Boston Globe
, May 27, 1994.

175 “Ideologically, I’m not sure”: Interview with John Lakian.

175 “There were a number of issues”: Interview with Mitt Romney.

175 “a real opportunity”: Romney for Senate videotape, 1994.

175 Kennedy and his advisers, meanwhile: Frank Phillips and Scot Lehigh, “Kennedy Pressing Campaign Early On,”
The Boston Globe
, June 22, 1994.

175 probe Romney’s background: Frank Phillips, “Detectives Probe Romney for Kennedy Campaign,”
The Boston Globe
, August 19, 1994.

175 “I’m looking out”: Interview with former Kennedy aide, 2011.

176 an effective TV ad: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

176 “polls do go up and down”: P-I News Services, “Kennedy Has Tough Opponent,”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, September 20, 1994.

176 Appearing before some five hundred: Geeta Anand and Frank Phillips, “Romney Savors Victory, Challenges Kennedy,”
The Boston Globe
, September 21, 1994.

176 “I remember the feeling”: Interview with former aide, 2011.

176 Romney said he told colleagues: Interview with Mitt Romney.

176 “There’s just no way”: Romney,
Turnaround
, 14.

176 “After the primary”: Interview with Mitt Romney.

176 “You saw the flash of anger”: Interview with former Kennedy aide, 2011.

177 Kennedy pollster Tom Kiley: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

177 The room overflowed: Interview with former Kennedy adviser, 2011.

177 Shrum recommended: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

177 “This is real”: Interview with former Kennedy adviser.

177 For months, Kennedy researchers: Interviews with former Kennedy aides, 2011.

178 “the assets of SCM Office Supplies”: Peter G. Gosselin, “Ind. Strikers Taking Fight to Romney,”
The Boston Globe
, October 3, 1994.

178 One former Bain executive: Bob Drogin, “To Assess Romney, Look Beyond the Bottom Line,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 17, 2007.

178 “It was devastating”: Interview with former Kennedy staffer, 2011; Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

178 A union official called: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

178 The ads featuring: Ibid.

178 Three days after the filming: Scot Lehigh and Frank Phillips, “Kennedy Raps Romney on Ind. Plant Strike,”
The Boston Globe
, September 30, 1994.

179 “Wouldn’t it be nice”: Ibid.

179 “This is not fantasy land”: Frank Phillips, “Romney Firm Tied to Labor Fight,”
The Boston Globe
, September 23, 1994.

179 Romney did not air: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

179 They distributed leaflets: Ibid.

179 On October 7: Frank Phillips, “Romney Agrees to Talk; Union Balks,”
The Boston Globe
, October 8, 1994.

179 Two days later: Meg Vaillancourt and Sarah A. McNaught, “Romney Meets with Strikers; Workers Confront Candidate at Event,”
The Boston Globe
, October 10, 1994.

180 Romney’s poll numbers: Scot Lehigh and Sally Jacobs, “Romney Lashes Out at Kennedy over Television Attack Tactics,”
The Boston Globe
, October 13, 1994.

180 “It’s something we should have”: Bradlee and Golden, “Strategies Shaped an Epic Race.”

180 “You can tell”: Interview with Joseph Malone.

180 “Letting go of that”: Interview with former staffer, 2011.

181 “You’d get Republicans”: Interview with former Romney aide, 2011.

181 It might have been: Sridhar Pappu, “The
Holy Cow!
Candidate,”
Atlantic Monthly
, September 2005, 106.

181 “We’ve got this thing”: Interview with Massachusetts Republican leader, 2011.

181 “socially innovative”: P-I News Services, “Kennedy Has Tough Opponent.”

181–182 In September: Interview with Richard Tafel, 2011.

182 “In Mitt’s mind”: Interview with Massachusetts Republican, 2011.

182 Romney was on the executive board: Peter G. Gosselin, “Kennedy, Romney Continue Trading Charges over Facts,”
The Boston Globe
, October 27, 1994.

182 “I’m with you”: Interview with Richard Tafel.

182 So not long afterward: Mitt Romney, letter to Log Cabin Republicans, October 6, 1994.

182 Romney had previously said: Scot Lehigh, “Kennedy, Romney Battle for the Middle,”
The Boston Globe
, October 10, 1994.

183 Even after the group: Interview with Richard Tafel.

183 He was deeply touched: Richard Tafel,
Party Crasher: A Gay Republican Challenges Politics as Usual
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999), 224.

183 In fact, his professed views: Scot Lehigh, “Romney Takes More Heat on Abortion,”
The Boston Globe
, September 10, 1994.

183 He later softened: Lehigh, “Kennedy, Romney Battle for the Middle.”

183 appeared in June: Scot Lehigh, “Romney Admits Advice Against Abortion,”
The Boston Globe
, October 20, 1994; Michael Levenson, “Romney Dismisses Photo Taken at Fund-raiser, Says He Is Firmly Antiabortion,”
The Boston Globe
, December 19, 1997.

183 Ann Romney gave: Scott Helman, “Romney’s Wife Made Contribution to Planned Parenthood,”
The Boston Globe
, May 10, 2007.