Detroit —Watching Mitt Romney at an auto show is like watching Mike Huckabee in church or John McCain at the Naval Academy: It gives you a look at the man in a setting that is deeply meaningful to him, a setting that helps explain why he has led the life he has led.
So on the day before the Michigan primary, when voters here will tell Romney whether his damaged presidential campaign will go forward with some badly needed momentum, or whether it is too weakened to remain a serious contender, Romney heads to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit’s Cobo Center. There, Romney, whose father was CEO of American Motors, indulges one of his true loves: being around cars, talking about cars, and promoting the U.S. automotive industry.
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“I’ve got cars in my bloodstream,” Romney says a little earlier in the day, in an address to the Detroit Economic Club. When he was a child, he recalls, his biggest thrill of the year was going to the auto show, even though his father, George Romney, made what was hands-down the unsexiest car on the market. “My dad
was head of a car company, you know, he made Ramblers,” Romney says. “And we were escorted [to the auto show] with a police escort, motorcycles — awfully cool, even though we had to go in a Rambler.” When he talks about cars, Romney often feels the need to apologize, just a little, for his father’s nerdy but reliable product. He tells the story of turning 60 last year, when his son Tagg came up to him with his birthday present, a set of car keys. What could it be? Romney wondered. A new Mustang? (Romney already drives one.) A Corvette? A Dodge Viper? Turns out it was a 1962 Rambler American, just like the one his father’s company made way back when. “My friends called it ‘Mrs. Romney’s grocery-getter,’“ Romney recalls. So cars aren’t just a hobby for Romney. They are the memories of his young life in Michigan, before he moved to Massachusetts to go to school, achieve his own success in business, become governor, and now run for president. And when Romney heads to the auto show, with 200 of the shiniest cars in the world displayed before him, he’s not just back in Michigan. He’s back in time. In Cobo Center, he wants to know everything about the latest models, which run heavy on the hybrid/environmental theme. “What are you forecasting for MPG on this?” he asks executives at the Chrysler exhibit, where he’s stopped to check out a new Aspen Hybrid SUV. “Is this the styling of the new Durango?” he asks a little later as he stops by another hybrid SUV. “I’ve had a Durango — does Josh still own my Durango? 110,000 miles, great car.”
Romney limits himself to the Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors exhibits — he wouldn’t risk political death by stopping at Toyota or Hyundai. And he takes care to explain that the Romney Fleet doesn’t play favorites among the American makers. “We’re loyal to each of the manufacturers,” he says; he has his Mustang, while his wife Ann has a Cadillac, there is the old Durango, plus a Chevy Silverado and a bunch of other cars owned by Tagg and Romney’s four other sons. And there’s the ‘62 Rambler.
