Ann Romney steals the show back home joking she’d be a better candidate than her husband? But was she REALLY joking?
Ann Romney, introducing her husband Mitt at a conservative gathering in Michigan, told the crowd: ‘Maybe I should just do all the talking and let him just stand here and watch me.’ Lapping up the warm reception she received at an Americans For Prosperity gathering in the city of Troy, where her father once ran a heavy machinery company, Mrs Romney echoed the sentiments of much of the country by saying that 20 Republican debates was enough.
‘I’ve also decided: No more debates. If we’re going to do another debate, he’s going to sit in the audience and watch me. And that’ll be it.’ Her quip about her oratorical kills was an acknowledgement of the fact that she is a more relaxed and human performer than her husband – and perhaps also part of a joint attempt to make light of his recent stumbles on the campaign trail.
Mr Romney alluded to his gaffes, the latest of which was pointing out in Detroit on Friday that ‘Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs’. He told a story about his father George Romney running for governor in the 1960s and telling a crowd in Mount Pleasant, Michigan that it ‘sure is great to be in Mount Clemens’. Mrs Romney’s public remarks have been so well received that the former Massachusetts governor’s stump speech has become something of a double act – he starts speaking first for a couple of minutes and introducing her before handing over so she can introduce him.
They could be especially valuable in Michigan. Whereas Mr Romney, who was born in Detroit and lived in the state until he was 19, can be self-conscious and ham-fisted, saying he has ‘deep roots here’ and talking about the trees being ‘the right height’, his wife is much more natural.
‘I like to tell people, “If you cut us open and we bleed, we bleed Vernor’s”,’ she said in Troy, referring to a local brand of ginger ale. ‘You’ve got to know that when you grow up in Michigan, you drink Vernor’s and the other thing you do is you listen to Tiger baseball.’
She spoke of how she would work at her Welsh-born father’s company, Jered Industries, in Troy. ‘My father was a brilliant man. He engineered parts for aircraft carriers, whether it was the hydraulic lifts that brought the planes up or whether it was the vacuum toilets. My father was an inventor of vacuum toilets. Isn’t that exciting? ‘Everything in my house had moving parts and I just figured that everyone’s father did this. We had a sliding door that the kids would never close and my father had this pulley system with a weight so that the door would automatically close every time.’
Looks like one part on Mr. Romney is hardly moving at all. It seems to have been cut off by the ever so popular and powerful Mrs. Romney! LOL
After the Troy speeches, Bob Limbright, 70, who owns a machine parts company and remains torn between Mr Romney and Rick Santorum, said: ‘I think his wife ought to be running.’ Mary Rice, 85, from neaby Livonia, agreed that Mrs Romney was a major asset and in some ways outshone her husband. ‘I did like Romney’s wife,’ she said. ‘Very clear and strong without being aggressive or in the least bit abrasive. She teased him a little bit and showed a lot of warmth.’
Was she REALLY joking though, to run or not to run, THAT is the question? Watch out, looks like SHE wants to STEAL the entire show! Remember, she admitted to MAKING him run again and insisted on being frontlady! 🙂