The Romney Campaign: It's All in the Family

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 12, 2007 — -- Josh Romney is tired.

For most of the last four months, he has lived in a Winnebago — dubbed the Mitt Mobile — stopping at least once in every one of Iowa's 99 counties, campaigning on behalf of his father, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Now he can rest — for a while. Romney pere won the crucial Iowa Straw Poll this weekend, and the Mitt Mobile is temporarily idle, parked next to a hotel in Ames. Josh can take a day off, maybe two. But soon, he will be back in the super-sized camper, and off to Nevada, or maybe Florida, or perhaps, New Hampshire. And so it will go for at least the next six months, and maybe the next 15 months.

Josh, 31, is one of Romney's five sons, four of whom are regularly out on the campaign trail. For Romney, family isn't just a campaign theme — it is a campaign strategy.

When Romney stresses "the family" as one leg in the three-legged stool that is his analogy for his main campaign themes (the other legs are the military and the economy), he can back it up by producing his own nuclear family, including his adult sons and Ann Romney, his wife of 38 years.

It is a none-too-subtle contrast to the two Republican frontrunners, Sen. John McCain and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom are divorcees. Giuliani's children do not campaign with him.

For the Romney brothers, it means a lot of time on the road away from home, friends, and often family.

"It's not easy, but it's well worth it," said Craig Romney, 26, who lives in New York City. "I'm willing to do whatever I can to help get my dad elected."

"I tried to convince them not to do it," Mitt Romney told me during a campaign stop in Hampton, Iowa. "I said, 'you've got your lives, you've got your families.' They said, 'Dad, you're running for president of the United States. We want to help you. We want to be part of it.' It's a very moving thing, very humbling."

Two other sons, Tagg, 37, and Matt, 35, are also frequently campaigning on the road. Tagg is a top campaign advisor in the campaign's Boston headquarters. He is said to wield a lot of influence with his father, especially when it comes to the delicate task of convincing him to do or say something differently.