Romney Gains New Platform For Run in 2008

CARLSBAD, Calif. -The Republican Governors Association yesterday elected as its chairman Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, delivering the Bay State politician a powerful platform from which to launch a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.However, it was apparent at the group’s annual meeting here that the post also carries significant risks for Mr. Romney, who will assume responsibility for getting Republican governors elected and re-elected at a time when the party’s fortunes have dimmed.On the floor and on the fringes of yesterday’s session, the governors, their aides, and Republican operatives debated the impact that President Bush’s sagging approval ratings, protracted fighting in Iraq, and burgeoning corruption scandals could have on the 36 gubernatorial races set to take place next year.“It’s a good thing the election isn’t today,” the chief of staff to Senator Allen of Virginia, Richard Wadhams, said during a panel discussion with Republican campaign consultants. “I’m glad that last year’s election wasn’t in this environment.”The other Republican strategists were equally glum. “You can’t ignore the bad stuff that’s coming because of what’s happening in D.C.,” a Republican pollster, William McInturff, said.A longtime adviser to GOP candidates, Michael Murphy, said Republicans running for office at the state level might escape voters’ wrath, but the party’s congressional candidates could experience an anti-incumbent rout on par with that suffered by Democrats in 1994. “Federally, it could be very bad,” Mr. Murphy predicted. He described as “horrible” current poll numbers about the country’s direction.Mr. Wadhams said he expected concern about illegal immigration to be the “no. 1” issue in 2006, especially among Republican stalwarts. Mr. Bush launched a new immigration initiative this week aimed at tightening border controls while expanding the ability of immigrants to work legally in America.An administration official who said he was asked by the White House to tout Mr. Bush’s immigration program said recent rioting by Muslim immigrants in the Paris suburbs should underscore the need for changes here.“If you want to see some of the consequences of getting it wrong, you only have to look at what has been happening in Europe, particularly in France,” the deputy secretary of labor, Steven Law, told the governors. He said the unrest was a result of “not having a rational, as well as a compassionate, immigration policy.”The chairman of the Republican Party, Kenneth Mehlman, made a less provocative pitch for Mr. Bush’s immigration plan. “If there are people willing to do jobs and jobs that need to be done, we should be working to bring those two together, not keep those two apart,” Mr. Mehlman said. He stressed that the willingness to admit needed workers had to be coupled with a gettough approach to those who try to enter the country illegally. “We must control our borders,” Mr. Mehlman said. “There can be zero tolerance for illegal immigration and porous borders.”Mr. McInturff warned that the consequences of anti-immigrant rhetoric could be devastating to the party. “We need to do the right policy with very soft language,” the pollster said. He said rash words or actions on immigration could cripple the Republicans by alienating the growing Latino community. “If they ever drift the way of the African-American vote, we are as a party facing a very difficult future,” he said.The Republican governors in attendance seemed eager to move the discussion to subjects other than the war, immigration, and the national party’s prospects. The governors passed up a scheduled opportunity to question the party chief publicly and were all but silent as the Republican strategists held forth.The outgoing chairman of the governors’ group made only a brief mention of the defeats the GOP suffered last month in governors’ races in New Jersey and Kentucky.“We all wanted to do better,” Governor Kenny Guinn of Nevada said tersely.In his presentation, Mr. Mehlman also defended Mr. Bush’s Iraq policy, which Democrats have attacked as unrealistic. “Are the Democrat attacks designed to help us win the war on terror, or are they designed to help them win the next election?” Mr. Mehlman asked.The Republican campaign experts said one of the few bright points for their party is that Democratic leaders who voted for the war are struggling to satisfy the anti-war element in their party. “How do they manage that tension in their own coalition?” Mr. McInturff asked.Governor Schwarzenegger of California, who is still reeling from the defeat of several reform measures in a special election last month, seemed conflicted about whether to be linked publicly with the Republican gathering.He is on a bipartisan kick at the moment. On Wednesday, the former actor replaced his Republican chief of staff with a Democrat who was a top aide to Governor Gray Davis, Susan Kennedy.Mr. Schwarzenegger was listed as host for the governors’ meeting, which took place at a resort north of San Diego, but he did not attend the plenary sessions that were open to the press and also opted out of the midday news conference where he would have been photographed side by side with other Republican chief executives.The California governor did attend a couple of events later in the day that were open to the governors and high dollar donors, but closed to journalists. A spokesman for Mr. Schwarzenegger, Darrel Ng, dismissed suggestions that his boss’s low profile at the Republican meeting was aimed at downplaying his party ties. “You’d be reading too much into it,” Mr. Ng said.Governor Pataki is skipping the governors’ conference altogether. Mr. Pataki was upstate yesterday attending unveiling ceremonies for new building designs and was to appear in Manhattan last night at an arts-related award gala. His office did not return repeated messages seeking an explanation for his absence from the West Coast meeting.After being elected as chairman of the group, Mr. Romney said he would make it a priority to get all Republican governors to such gatherings, “even those who are away today.” He brushed aside questions about the 2008 presidential race. “We’re not thinking about or worrying about ’08. We’re worrying about ’06,” he told reporters.Mr. Romney is expected to announce within weeks whether he will run for re-election next year or leave office, possibly to mount a full-time bid for president.With the Massachusetts governor’s every move being divined for its political consequences, he decided to skip a skeet-shooting session with other governors yesterday afternoon. He opted instead to attend a gathering of Republican women in nearby Orange County.

Romney Gains New Platform For Run in 2008

More from the New York Sun

Pam Bondi Plows Past ‘Paperwork Mistake’ To Revive Criminal Prosecutions Against Letitia James and James Comey

How Margot Robbie Made Girlboss Cinema a Brand

Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Cutting Funds to California for Not Disclosing Students’ Gender Transitions to Parents

More from the New York Sun

Pam Bondi Plows Past ‘Paperwork Mistake’ To Revive Criminal Prosecutions Against Letitia James and James Comey

How Margot Robbie Made Girlboss Cinema a Brand

Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Cutting Funds to California for Not Disclosing Students’ Gender Transitions to Parents

‘Wuthering Heights’ Is a Mad, Bad, and Sexy Romp That Makes Brontë ‘Brat’

Pro-Hamas Activist Provokes Outrage — by Insisting Dogs Should Be Homeless

The Democrats Beyond the Water’s Edge

Student Sues University of Michigan, Claiming It Mistook Her Anxiety-Ridden Writing Style for AI

Bipartisan Group in Congress Warns of ‘Serious Safety Risk’ From Illegal Biolabs