Mitt Romney on Monday likened Rudy Giuliani’s soaring poll numbers to an earlier surge by John McCain, saying Giuliani is by no means the inevitable GOP presidential nominee.
“Well, the first inevitable candidate was Senator McCain,” Romney said with a chuckle in an interview with The Examiner. “And so inevitability is a fleeting thing.”
Romney likened his better-known rivals to his own father, George Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination nearly 40 years ago.
“I, perhaps more than most, recognize the perils of being the front-runner,” Romney said. “I saw my dad as the inevitable choice in 1968, and the least likely was Richard Nixon. And somehow a year later my dad had withdrawn and Nixon had the nomination.”
Although the former Massachusetts governor is considered a top-tier candidate for the GOP nomination, he consistently places third in voter preference polls. In recent weeks, those polls have shown Giuliani pulling away from McCain, who was once considered the odds-on favorite.
Romney was careful to praise Giuliani, though he seemed to hint that the former New York mayor’s popularity will falter once voters learn more about him.
“Mayor Giuliani’s popularity stems from his excellent leadership during crisis,” Romney said in a reference to Sept. 11, 2001 “I think highly of Mayor Giuliani and feel he’s an American hero.
“And yet, I think when it actually comes time to voting for the nominee for our party, that there will be a full review of everything we know about each candidate, and all their positions and their vision for the future, and their qualities and capabilities,” he said. “And I think in that final analysis, I’ll be successful.”
Romney was by no means counting McCain out.
“You know, it’s so early in the process that you’re going to see ups and downs for everyone,” he said. “And so I think in politics, very early on, people are not paying a lot of attention.”
He said: “We haven’t even had our first debates yet.”
During the wide-ranging interview, Romney expressed his opposition to congressional Democrats who have attached a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq to a measure providing funding for the war.
“It’s the wrong course,” he said. “I think that as long as there is a reasonable probability we can bring stability to a central government and military in Iraq, that is the course for us to pursue.”
“And publishinga timetable would make accomplishing that objective more difficult,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with private timetables and milestones being set between us and the Iraqi leadership. But to have Congress directing the commander in chief and the commanders in field is not the right course.”
Romney also said it was premature for critics to demand the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the flap over fired federal prosecutors.
“Before a conviction, you look for facts and witnesses,” he said. “And all the facts and witnesses have not been heard from yet. And so I’d like that information.”
Romney puts wife’s health first
John Edwards isn’t the only presidential candidate whose wife has an incurable illness.
Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. While there is no cure for the chronic disease, it is far different from the bone cancer afflicting Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth.
“MS is not a terminal condition, it’s not a deadly condition — at least in my wife’s case,” Romney said in an interview with The Examiner. “She has relapsing and remitting MS, and she hasn’t had an attack or relapse since, let’s see, probably 2002.”
“So she’s been five years without physical impairment of any kind,” he said. “So it’s a very different setting in that she has a long-term chronic illness, but not a terminal disease.”
Still, the disease was a factor in deciding whether to proceed with a presidential bid, just as John and Elizabeth Edwards weighed her cancer before deciding to continue his campaign.
“When we considered entering the race, her health was foremost on our mind, and it was critical to me that we not do anything that would cause a deterioration of her health,” Romney said. “And so I’m very careful that we as a campaign don’t overtax her, don’t push her too hard. So she doesn’t attend all the events that I attend, but instead a select number, just to keep the schedule at a reasonable level.”
“I was away from home 26 straight nights until last Friday,” Romney said with a cough. “I’ve had three colds and most days begin early in the morning and go until late at night. And that’s not something I would think makes sense for my wife.” – Bill Sammon
