LOS ANGELES — Nine hundred of Mitt Romney’s biggest benefactors — from Wall Street traders to hedge fund managers — gathered in a ballroom in Midtown Manhattan on Friday morning to send their candidate on the two-month sprint to Election Day.
Spencer Zwick, the campaign’s national finance chairman and a longtime Romney loyalist, took to the lectern to boast: “It is really turning into a cause. The momentum continues.”
But the donors, being data guys, knew Romney’s momentum had stalled. And when they looked up at the Jumbotron to watch a biographical video showing the GOP nominee as warmblooded, goofy and even a bit frugal, it was the culmination of much of what Republicans say is wrong with the Romney campaign: There is a great story to be told, and it isn’t being shared with the country.
Now, with 49 days left until the election, Romney’s chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, is being accused of not defining the candidate quickly enough over the summer and not helping the sometimes-awkward nominee forge a closer bond with voters. Republicans are increasingly frustrated with the campaign’s inability to capitalize on Americans’ anxiety about the economy and lukewarm approval of President Obama.
Romney faced another distraction on Monday, as Mother Jones unearthed a video that it said showed the candidate speaking at a closed-door fundraiser this year. In the video, Romney says that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent on government” and that they think “they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”
He adds that his job “is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
The Washington Post was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video. Mother Jones said on its Web site that it blurred some parts of the video and would disclose only that the fundraiser occurred after Romney became the presumed GOP nominee in the spring. The campaign did not dispute that it was Romney in the video.
Advisers, donors and other top Romney supporters on Monday depicted a campaign in turmoil, saying that a series of strategic errors has set back the effort.
They pointed to the decision not to combat the slew of television ads that the Obama campaign aired over the summer characterizing Romney as a ruthless technocrat who shipped jobs overseas during his time at Bain Capital and who has mysterious foreign investments. They also said the candidate’s overseas trip in July, which some top advisers urged him not take, turned into such a mess that it jeopardized his credentials.
Furthermore, supporters said the Republican National Convention was a missed opportunity because Romney did not lay out a clear policy-driven vision and because the lauded biographical video was scrapped from prime-time in favor of Clint Eastwood’s performance, which featured an empty chair.
Despite the public griping, Romney aides insisted that there was no shake-up in the works. Stevens declined to comment on the record. Advisers and fundraisers close to the operation said it is highly unlikely that Romney will replace him. “He’s not changing horses,” one said.
Spencer Zwick, the campaign’s national finance chairman and a longtime Romney loyalist, took to the lectern to boast: “It is really turning into a cause. The momentum continues.”
But the donors, being data guys, knew Romney’s momentum had stalled. And when they looked up at the Jumbotron to watch a biographical video showing the GOP nominee as warmblooded, goofy and even a bit frugal, it was the culmination of much of what Republicans say is wrong with the Romney campaign: There is a great story to be told, and it isn’t being shared with the country.
Now, with 49 days left until the election, Romney’s chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, is being accused of not defining the candidate quickly enough over the summer and not helping the sometimes-awkward nominee forge a closer bond with voters. Republicans are increasingly frustrated with the campaign’s inability to capitalize on Americans’ anxiety about the economy and lukewarm approval of President Obama.
Romney faced another distraction on Monday, as Mother Jones unearthed a video that it said showed the candidate speaking at a closed-door fundraiser this year. In the video, Romney says that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent on government” and that they think “they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”
He adds that his job “is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
The Washington Post was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video. Mother Jones said on its Web site that it blurred some parts of the video and would disclose only that the fundraiser occurred after Romney became the presumed GOP nominee in the spring. The campaign did not dispute that it was Romney in the video.
Advisers, donors and other top Romney supporters on Monday depicted a campaign in turmoil, saying that a series of strategic errors has set back the effort.
They pointed to the decision not to combat the slew of television ads that the Obama campaign aired over the summer characterizing Romney as a ruthless technocrat who shipped jobs overseas during his time at Bain Capital and who has mysterious foreign investments. They also said the candidate’s overseas trip in July, which some top advisers urged him not take, turned into such a mess that it jeopardized his credentials.
Furthermore, supporters said the Republican National Convention was a missed opportunity because Romney did not lay out a clear policy-driven vision and because the lauded biographical video was scrapped from prime-time in favor of Clint Eastwood’s performance, which featured an empty chair.
Despite the public griping, Romney aides insisted that there was no shake-up in the works. Stevens declined to comment on the record. Advisers and fundraisers close to the operation said it is highly unlikely that Romney will replace him. “He’s not changing horses,” one said.