Mitt Romney walked into the old Town Hall in the New Hampshire town of Exeter late last week already looking like an American president sent straight from Hollywood. He had the square jaw, the perfect smile and, walking beside him, his gorgeous blonde wife, Ann. He also had a speech that read like a horror movie and described an America in mortal peril of bankruptcy and social chaos.
"If we keep spending like we are spending and borrowing like we are borrowing, at some point we can face what Greece faces," he told a room that was packed to overflowing.
But Romney does not just look the part of president. In the race to be the Republicans' 2012 nominee, and challenge Barack Obama for the White House, Romney is riding high. And with Obama facing the challenge of a worsening economy and anaemic approval ratings, a growing number of commentators believe that the former governor of Massachusetts could be the next occupant of the Oval Office.
He is the undoubted frontrunner in the Republican race, with the rest of the field scrabbling to be the sole "anti-Romney" candidate. One by one, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry looked likely contenders before their bubbles burst and support withered. Now the latest anti-Romney candidate, former pizza magnate Herman Cain, is mired in a sexual harassment scandal.
With less than two months until Iowa and New Hampshire kick off the vital early contests, Romney is sitting pretty. More than a few of those 200 people inside the hall felt they just might be looking at their nominee: their great hope of making Obama a one-term president. "He has the money. He has the experience. Romney is the most well-rounded candidate," said Rene Bonnin, 63, a local retired naval worker. » | Paul Harris in Exeter, New Hampshire | Saturday, November 05, 2011
