Mitt Romney: Good to go with the Illinois GOP Base, or is there a Kjellander issue?

In his first press conference with the Chicago media [held yesterday afternoon at the Hilton Suites Chicago in the Loop], Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney seemed at ease, disciplined and well spoken-- and he displayed a good sense of humor—an often undervalued virtue in politics. Romney is a Harvard MBA and Harvard Law School Graduate [cum laude, but unlike Barack Obama, not President of the Harvard Law Review]. He was a private sector entrepreneur, venture capitalist and turnaround artist who fixed the 2002 Olympics. After losing to Senator Teddy Kennedy in 1994, Romney found that the second time was the charm when he became Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, winning over the State Treasurer-- who Romney argued was somewhat responsible for the state's financial mess-- sound familiar?

Romney's short stint in Chicago included a late morning meeting with Mayor Daley on Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics and the problems of cities; a meeting with a half dozen or so potential donors followed by a 1:30 pm presser with about a half dozen cameras and a dozen members of the media; and then a 2:00 pm meeting with some "Republican Party activists." Then the Governor was on to St. Louis, Mo. Such is the life of a Presidential candidate. Fun, huh?

Mitt Romney began the presser with a three minute statement and then answered questions for about thirteen minutes on a wide range of topics. The questions related, but were not limited to, the Massachusetts universal healthcare insurance program that Romney promoted and passed [with some modifications by the legislature] during his 2002-06 gubernatorial tenure, the Iraq War and the emerging war funding impasse between the President and Congress, Romney’s reversal [or evolution] of positions on (a) abortion and (b) “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell,” the state of the Republican Party in Illinois and Romney’s leadership team in the Land of Lincoln. See generally here and here.

See here for the rest of the blog: