Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is quietly courting the Tea Party as it becomes increasingly clear that the conservative grass-roots movement, which has stubbornly refused to embrace him, represents a bigger threat to Romney’s quest for his party’s nomination than any of his rivals.
Less than two months before the Iowa caucuses, Romney is skipping a major Iowa event Friday — where every other GOP hopeful will be — to deliver a keynote speech on fiscal policy to the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity.
Americans for Prosperity is led by billionaire Republican donor David Koch, whose endorsement Romney seeks. An Oct. 4 internal Romney campaign memo obtained by The Washington Examiner describes Koch as the “financial engine of the Tea Party” even though Koch “denies being directly involved.” Koch endorsed Romney for president in 2008 and his well-funded group is credited with electing dozens of Republicans to Congress in 2010 and creating a network of Tea Party loyalists who are critical to Romney’s chances of winning the nomination, political strategists say.
“In many national surveys, Romney has had difficulty breaking 25 percent in support and that’s because [Tea Party] conservatives are suspicious of him and doubt his commitment to their issues,” said Darrell West, vice president of government studies for the Brookings Institution. “He’s courting the Tea Party because he needs them to win.”
Members of the Tea Party, which emerged in 2009 to demand smaller government and fiscal austerity, have so far rejected Romney as beholden to the Republican establishment.
“Our vote is split up among so many candidates — none of whom are Romney,” said Judson Phillips, co-founder of Tea Party Nation, a 50,000-member group within the national movement.
“Romney’s problem with a lot of Tea Party voters, myself included, is at this point I don’t know what he believes and I don’t care — because even if he tells me: ‘When I get to the White House I’m going to be fiscally conservative,’ he will probably change his mind, depending on which way the political winds are blowing.”
Romney defends the government’s 2008 bank bailouts and he once supported abortion rights, gay rights and gun control, which contrasts sharply to the positions backed by most Tea Party voters. His mere attendance at a Tea Party Express rally in August sparked a protest from another Tea Party-affiliated group, FreedomWorks.
Behind the scenes, Romney has been trying to win an endorsement from Koch, who has made no endorsements in the current race though he backed Romney for president in 2008.
Romney reached out to Koch in early October after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who Koch is said to support, decided against a run for president, the internal campaign memo shows.
Romney spokesman Ryan Williams declined to comment on the relationship between Romney and Koch.
The memo says Romney was scheduled to meet with Koch on Aug. 28 at the billionaire’s home in Southampton, N.Y. — where Koch held a major event for Romney in 2010 — but Hurricane Irene foiled their plans. The two last met in January for lunch in Manhattan at the Links Club, an elite social club for avid golfers.
Calls to Koch’s office were not returned.
