Romney to Follow in Father's Footsteps

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This is the big day for one of the Republican contenders. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney declares his candidacy today.

INSKEEP: Romney mixes experience in the state house with a long resume as a businessman. He's also known for his stewardship of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games. Today, he makes his announcement in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan.

Our White House correspondent Don Gonyea is a man who knows Michigan well. Don, welcome to the program.

DON GONYEA: I do. Thank you.

INSKEEP: Why Michigan for Romney?

GONYEA: Well, Mitt Romney is kind of a native son. He was born in Detroit, he lived in the region until he went off to college. The reason he lived in the region, his dad is former Governor George Romney, who is an icon of Michigan politics. Also an icon of the American automobile industry. He ran American Motors in the 1950s and the '60s.

So there's that. But Michigan also works for him for political reasons. I mean what were his other options? He was governor in Massachusetts. He could have gone there, but that's not a state that Republicans really count on doing particularly well in in presidential election years. Plus he's down in the polls in Massachusetts.

Another option was Utah, where he went to school, where he ran the Olympics. Close ties there. But, again, Utah not a big player in presidential politics. But then you've got Michigan, a big key swing state and wouldn't hurt for him to be seen as sort of a favorite son.

INSKEEP: So if you're Mitt Romney and you see that in the last few days you've had Barack Obama make a much-covered announcement in Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, you've got Hillary Clinton tramping across Iowa, New Hampshire, you've got John McCain and Rudy Giuliani rumbling in the distance, what do you do to get attention?

GONYEA: Well, this is his chance to stand in the spotlight and really to introduce himself to the country. We'll get our first look at his stump speech. He wants to portray himself as a conservative. One who's qualified, one who's ready, one who's serious and one who has a broad mix of experience to bring to the job. So that's what we're going to see today.

INSKEEP: What barriers does he face?

GONYEA: It's probably in his trying to portray himself as a real conservative. When he was governor of Massachusetts, he was seen as a social conservative. When he ran for the U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy some 13 years ago, he was in favor of abortion rights, he was in favor of gay rights. Those are two things that he has backed away from. In some cases he's even renounced earlier positions he took when he was a younger man, he says.

So he's got to try to appeal to conservatives, he feels, to win the Republican nomination. But a lot of them are going to be looking at him very suspiciously. Also evangelicals have already been critical. There's another problem there: Governor Romney is a Mormon, and that is a religion that's looked on with great suspicion by many in the evangelical community.

INSKEEP: What's the competition to capture that conservative vote this time around?

GONYEA: Well, we have people like Sam Brownback, the Kansas senator. We have Senator John McCain. There will be a lot of Republicans. In fact, pretty much everybody except Rudy Giuliani, who will be trying to claim the conservative mantel. Romney will try to portray himself as kind of the - remember this phrase? - compassionate conservative. It's the line George W. Bush used when he was running for president.

Romney won't use that line, but he's going to try to stake out some of that same terrain. He's also young. He's 11 years younger than John McCain. He's in good health and he's hoping that voters will find all that appealing as well.

INSKEEP: NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea. Don, thanks very much.

GONYEA: A pleasure.

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