Mitt Romney is often accused of being a mechanical candidate, a guy whose looks are perfect and who has thought about every issue and has standardized statements on each one. But he does have a sense of humor that sometimes breaks through, as it did today–caucus day–in Iowa after Mke Huckabee’s campaign consultant, Ed Rollins, said he’d like to punch Romney. Here’s what Rollins told the Washington Post: “What I have to do is make sure any anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process.” Romney took note of Rollins’s comment in a speech in Des Moines to employes of the Principal Group, the financial management firm. “My own comment,” Romney said, “is ‘don’t touch the hair.'” The crowd roared at this self-effacing jab. Romney’s hair is always immaculately combed. He ended his speech by saying, “Please go the caucuses and vote multiple times.” The Huckabee forces are mad at Romney because of TV ads he’s airing that are critical of Huckabee’s record as Arkansas governor for 10 years. The ads focus on immigration, spending, taxes, and pardons. In truth, they are conventional contrast ads of the sort seen in practically every campaign in America in which candidates have enough money to get on television. And today, Romney not only strongly defended such TV ads, but said he will continue to air them. The first question he got from a Principal employee was whether he’d use these ads against other rivals. “Absolutely,” he declared. “You can bet we’re going to talk about differences on issues….I’m not going to attack the character of people I’m running against.” Huckabee has actually been tougher on Romney than Romney has been on him. Huckabee has called Romney “dishonest” and suggested that anyone like Romney who runs a dishonest campaign would be a dishonest president. Huckabee has also characterized Romney as a rich guy who is out of touch with average Americans and their problems. Thus, Huckabee says, average Americans have a hard time relating to Romney. We’ll see in the Republican caucuses if that’s true.
