A Wonkish Romney Turns Up on the Trail

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DUBUQUE — Mitt Romney loves statistics. The former venture capitalist pores over charts and grafs. He analyzes situations and data from every angle. It's little wonder, then, that as he campaigns for president, the Republican sometimes shows his wonkish side.

Romney's inclination to mention books, quote from studies, refer to history, lapse into government-speak and rattle off numbers popped up at events across Iowa on Friday.

In this northeastern city, the former Massachusetts governor spent several minutes telling potential supporters at Loras College about a professor who once asked him about "inflection points" in U.S. history — "when everything appears to change at the same time."

Then, Romney explained, in a professorial tone of his own, about the Declaration of Independence "when we redefined the relationship between the citizen and the state" and how the country changed at the advent of the 20th century "when we became a land of opportunity."

Today, he said, "we are at another inflection point, in my view, where America is going to change course."

Such moments bring to mind another Massachusetts presidential candidate. The 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry, was known for long-winded riffs filled with Senate-speak, references to arcane policy matters and little-known pieces of legislation.

For his part, Romney's proclivity to recite facts, figures and in-the-weeds details could cut both ways as Iowa Republicans decide who to support in statewide caucuses in just five weeks. Voters could leave events impressed with Romney's depth of knowledge and grasp of the issues. Or, they could be turned off by what can appear to be just another eye-glazing lecture from a politician.

Romney's style contrasts with that of his top rival in Iowa.

Mike Huckabee is the easygoing ex-governor of Arkansas who charms his audiences with homespun stories of growing up in a family of modest means while sprinkling in broad policy stances under the themes of patriotism and core values. The former Southern Baptist minister tends not to dwell on the details of policy matters, choosing instead to tug on his audiences' heart strings.

Conversely, Romney's pitch is heavy on policy — and details.

A former venture capitalist with law and business degrees from Harvard, Romney has been known to fire up slide shows on various policy proposals as he campaigns.

In Greenville, S.C., last month, he projected a PowerPoint presentation on free trade in a "Reagan Zone for Economic Freedom" during events before a Rotary luncheon and a Chamber of Commerce meeting. At the time, he conceded that the dense type, shotgun-splatter diagrams and talk of the X-and-Y axis were a bit much for his audience, joking at one event: "You can turn that off now. We can all go to sleep."

He left the PowerPoint behind as he campaigned in Dubuque and Cedar Rapids on Friday; his style still showed.

_Asked about Social Security, Romney referenced a bill by Judd Gregg, whom he identified for his Iowa audience as a New Hampshire senator. Falling into Senate lingo, he said the bill would "take an equal amount of Republicans and Democrats, put them in a conference and say, 'Come out with a compromise, and we'll vote it up or down. No amendments. We'll just vote it up or down. And it has to pass by a 60 percent margin.'"

_While discussing energy independence and developing alternative energy sources, he referenced a study, saying: "There's a study reported today by McKinsey and Company, a consulting firm, that we could dramatically reduce our energy use in this country by having appliances that are more energy efficient."

_He brought up a separate study — without mentioning its author — when asked about stemming drug use. "Did you see the survey about the impact on families and having dinner with your kids and drugs?"

_On the economy, Romney talked in-depth about the declining value of the dollar. He cited both short-term and long-term reasons for it; interest rates, the "credit crisis" and the loss of confidence in a nation that has "60 trillion dollars of obligations."

_Pressed on whether he would commit to combatting poverty and sickness across the globe, he referenced a book by economist Jeffrey Sachs, "The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time," that he said "lays out a prescription of how you go country by country and develop strategies to help those countries eliminate poverty."

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