Sunday, November 26, 2006

David Broder gives Romney mixed reviews as Mass. gov

Chicago area native and Pulitzer Prize winner David Broder, a Washington Post columnist, has a well-thought out write-up on Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a likely Republican 2008 presidential candidate.

Amazingly, this is a rare article where Romney's membership in the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons, isn't mentioned.

I guess that's why Broder won his Pulitzer.

From his column:

He has been a successful venture capitalist and management consultant, and he saved the tainted 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from scandal. But it is his single term as Massachusetts governor that is Mitt Romney's chief credential in his bid for the Republican nomination for president.

He began his term four years ago on a high note, rescuing the state from an inherited budget deficit. But now, as he prepares to leave office and focus full time on his White House aspirations, his tenure is being viewed in a more mixed fashion.

More....
While he can point to a major policy success in health care, his relationship with the Democratic-controlled legislature that made it possible is in tatters. His efforts to challenge the Democrats and promote Republican candidates for the legislature failed. His partner in the statehouse, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, lost a bid to succeed him. And Romney is leaving office with the state GOP weaker than when he arrived.

And some more...
The result has been a series of fights that have left the state politically polarized, and that reality has shaped -- and limited -- Romney's actions in the past two years. Where the Democrats have been motivated to act, he has had notable successes. His plan for health care treats it much like car insurance, requiring people to buy it or face a fine. It was tweaked and substantially expanded by the legislature, and in the final analysis, the negotiations that led to success were managed more by the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate than by the governor.

Romney, however, has a perfect excuse for all of his shortcomings--He can blame those Massachusetts liberals.

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