By Erin McPike, NBC News/National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008

DETROIT -- For former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Michigan is personal.

	Mitt Romney's surging in a handful of Michigan polls at a time when his campaign desperately needs it.

He has emphasized that point to voters over and over while campaigning here the past several months. Even during CNBC's presidential debate in Dearborn last October, Romney worked in the line: "And for me, Michigan is personal. I'm going to go to work to help Michigan."

Born and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., he now is pinning his bid for the White House on his history here. Romney endured tough losses in Iowa and New Hampshire this month, shattering his strategy of scooping up the first two early states before cruising to the GOP nomination. He finished in second place in both states and badly needs a victory in today's Michigan primary to keep his candidacy looking viable in the eyes of the national media.

As the son of George Romney, a former three-term governor of Michigan, Mitt Romney has been able to use his father's likeness in TV ads to remind voters of his strong political pedigree here. But in a phone interview on Sunday, Romney's brother, Scott, warned that ties to their well-respected father will only do so much.

"The only thing that does for Mitt is that people want to come out and see him," Scott Romney said. "They vote for you because of who you are and what you will do, not because of who your parents are."

Not everyone thinks Romney has to win here to survive. The candidate himself, for instance, still insists that he's in the race for the long haul. And Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, who introduced Romney at a rally in the state's 15th Congressional District Sunday night as "hopefully, the next president of United States," bucked some of the conventional wisdom floating around about the future of Romney's candidacy. He told National Journal on Saturday that Michigan "is not a must-win for Romney politically, but it is a must-win for him personally."

Indeed, Romney's been invoking whatever colloquialisms he can to prove his familiarity with the people here. At a rally before nearly 1,000 supporters at Lawrence Technological University, he said: "What a thrill it is to come back to Michigan, even in the winter, where the skies are cloudy all day; the trees are just the right height; and almost all the cars you see are American made -- the way they ought to be; the people speak with no accent, and they know that pop refers to drink, not a relative."

He's used different versions of that message at a number of events over the past few days, which prompted a national reporter on Friday to conclude that it sounds as if Romney's running for governor, not president. Romney has been dogged by the media in the past -- including in New Hampshire -- for telling his audiences exactly what they want to hear. (What will he say about accents when he meets with South Carolinians on Wednesday?)

Still, his message may be resonating with voters here. Peter Ginopolis, whose family-owned restaurant outside of Detroit is a frequent host to political operatives in the state, said Saturday that his vote is going to Romney because "he's the only guy who seems to care about us here in Michigan."

Romney's surging in a handful of state polls at a time when he desperately needs it. He's down just a point to McCain in the Detroit News poll, but he's leading the 71-year-old senator by 5 points in the Detroit Free Press/Local 4 survey and by 8 points in a recent MSNBC/McClatchy/Mason-Dixon poll.

His campaign appearances here all week seem to mirror the poll results, as Romney has been warmly received by large, energetic crowds. He arrived Wednesday afternoon in the Gaslight District in Grand Rapids to what AP termed "a hero's welcome" -- even though he was nearly two hours late. He never made it inside Olga's Kitchen, disappointing some of his supporters who had been waiting to see him. Nevertheless, he appeared more laid-back than he'd been in weeks, outfitted in a blazer without a tie to match his at-home mood.

His first-grade teacher, Gloria Blazo, showed up at his speech at the Americans For Prosperity conference in Livonia on Saturday afternoon and greeted him in the rope line afterward. Revealing just how important the personal storyline is to the campaign, Romney's national press secretary, Kevin Madden, hurried to the press bus to catch the national reporters so that they could write up the poignant reunion.

To make sure the Romney-Michigan nostalgia wasn't lost on anyone, the campaign threw in a "tour" of the Statehouse in Lansing on Friday afternoon. The former first couple of Massachusetts posed for a picture in front of a portrait of George Romney, causing his daughter-in-law to well up a bit.

Later that night, Romney explained Mrs. Romney's emotions during the photo op as if they were a slide in a PowerPoint presentation. "Ann was emotional, I noticed," he said. "Her eyes filled with tears." (She also shed tears while waxing poetic about her in-laws in late September at a Romney ice cream social following a speech by her husband at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference.)

Like her husband, Ann Romney has been emphasizing her history here. "Let me give an indication to the press here that don't understand how people in Michigan talk and say hello to each other," she said at a stop in Traverse City with her husband, holding up her hand and pointing to the crevice between her thumb and forefinger to show where "in the state" she meant. "Manistee," she said. "That's where I spent my summers.... Nobody has lived until they've walked the beaches and sand dunes of the upper northern part of Lake Michigan." She added: "My mother would be stunned sometimes when I'd come home, my pockets full of frogs." No place in the country is more beautiful than northern Michigan, she claims.

The personal narrative aside, Mitt Romney does have a major campaign message for the state.

"It is simply unacceptable to me to see this state go through a one-state recession," he said in Traverse City on Saturday, adding, "It is simply wrong for Washington to be aware of what's going on in Michigan without doing something about it." Romney picked up a lot of local coverage on Sunday night during his rally in Taylor, when he raised his voice to yell above screams and cheers, "I'm not going to rest until Michigan's back!"

That promise is the cornerstone of the contrast he's trying to draw for voters here with John McCain, who won the state's primary in 2000. Romney has long branded himself as an optimist. McCain's "straight talk" that says the jobs lost in Michigan aren't coming back plays neatly into Romney's strategy by allowing his team to brand the Arizona senator as a pessimist -- something that might not go over well with cash-strapped residents.

And while McCain won the state in 2000, exit polls showed that George W. Bush beat him among self-identified Republicans more than two-to-one. McCain carried the state only because he amassed huge margins among both independents and Democrats -- who actually cast a narrow majority of all the ballots that year in the Republican primary, which allows crossover voting. This year, with Democrats also holding a primary today -- albeit one in which no candidates are actively competing in deference to Democratic National Committee sanctions over the date -- it is unclear whether those non-Republicans will participate in the GOP primary in comparably large numbers. That could boost Romney, who ran even with McCain among self-identified Republicans in New Hampshire, and leads the senator with that group in some of the recent Michigan surveys.

Yesterday, Romney gave an address before the Detroit Economic Club offering a set of policy prescriptions he'd pursue as president to assist the economically-challenged state. But despite the policy-oriented nature of the address, Romney made certain to bookend it with personal appeals. "I've got Michigan in my DNA, I've got it in my heart and I've got cars in my bloodstream," he said at the beginning of his remarks.

And he closed the speech by coming full circle with a preview of his visit later in the afternoon to the well-timed North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "The next time I visit the Auto Show," he said, "I look forward to doing so as your president."