Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, and his oldest son, Tagg, urged him last month to shake up the campaign, tack to the center and push a “softer and more moderate” image, a “let Mitt be Mitt” approach that included personal stories and culminated in last week’s successful debate performance, Politico reports.
According to the story, chief strategist Stuart Stevens has been “fenced in,” with his duties now relegated to debates and television advertising.
The foreign policy speech Romney delivered on Monday was part of this new strategy, and aides say that more speeches—on jobs and the economy and another on spending and the deficit—could be coming.
Politico reports Tagg Romney has taken a “more assertive role” in the campaign, shielding Romney from the “cacophony” of advice and urging him to “be who you are,” according to a family friend who spoke to Politico anonymously.
In addition, a campaign official who also spoke anonymously defended the previous approach that “based on polling, focus groups and anecdotal evidence that people were most interested in what he would do as president,” Politico reports.
“When we meet each other, we don’t immediately say, ‘Let me show you the pictures of my grandkids,’ and tell you how great I am,” the official told Politico, adding, “We talk about mutual interests, and what it is that you’re doing. If he’d said, ‘I’m Mitt Romney. Let me tell you about my life,’ people would have said, ‘Yeah, but what are you going to do for me?’”
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