Romney camp dumps new debate coach for receiving too much credit for Florida win?
A GOP operative who won plaudits for bolstering Mitt Romney’s recent debate performances is not being retained by the frontrunner’s campaign, an apparent victim of internal tensions over staff receiving too much credit for the candidate’s comeback, POLITICO has learned…
O’Donnell received phone calls late last week from two Romney advisers — campaign manager Matt Rhoades and informal adviser Charlie Black — where it was made clear that there was severe discomfort about how his role was being portrayed in the media and that he ought to tread lightly.
Then on Saturday, when the New York Times posted a Sunday story online detailing how Romney’s campaign targeted Newt Gingrich in Florida that again mentioned O’Donnell’s role with the debates, chief Romney strategist Stuart Stevens called O’Donnell. Stevens asked the adviser to contact Jim Rutenberg, one of the Times reporters who wrote the piece, and request that the reporter change the depiction of O’Donnell’s role in what would become a front-page article, according to Republican sources.
Blowback
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This story is kind of a nothing burger hit piece.
Priscilla on February 4, 2012 at 7:44 AM
So maybe he won’t do so well in the next debate.
JellyToast on February 4, 2012 at 8:03 AM
Romney has done well in all of the debates, especially the first several when he had a target on his back.
He deflected arrows effortlessly, occasionally severely damaging to shooter (right, Perry?).
itsnotaboutme on February 4, 2012 at 8:38 AM
By running to the left of Perry and demagoguing the Social Security issue. Niiiiice.
ddrintn on February 4, 2012 at 8:55 AM
Mittens: the White Oneness.
victor82 on February 4, 2012 at 8:57 AM
Mitt Romney makes a MISTAKE????? I’ve got to mark this down on the calendar.
ddrintn on February 4, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Maybe they should fire the person who told him to go out and defend the liberal, welfare-state “safety net” as a strategy for containing the fallout from his “I’m not very concerned about the poor” comments.
Lawdawg86 on February 4, 2012 at 9:04 AM
Wake up Romney – this sounds more like something George Costanza would do than Ronald Reagan.
“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit” ……Ronald Reagan
alQemist on February 4, 2012 at 9:05 AM
Romney is over-handled and over-managed period. The folks at NRO are virtually spoon-feeding him his talking points in their articles. Is it any wonder he has done very few interviews prior to Florida? They can’t trust him to stay on message because he doesn’t understand the conservative message. He is nothing more than the republican obama totally controlled by the Washington power establishment.
KickandSwimMom on February 4, 2012 at 9:10 AM
Romney did say he likes to fire people.
Vince on February 4, 2012 at 9:12 AM
thread winner. shut it down.
unseen on February 4, 2012 at 9:15 AM
And he also doesn’t care about the poor. . . whatever. . . he’ll never get my vote!
Pragmatic on February 4, 2012 at 9:31 AM
Politico is the National Enquirer of politics.
BettyRuth on February 4, 2012 at 9:31 AM
Mitt Romney to Obama: Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way.
So now we get to see what Mitt Romney’s leadership style looks like….”I like to fire people” Good “Job” Champ/
Dr Evil on February 4, 2012 at 9:46 AM
Wow, so vain…Sounds exactly like something Obama would do.
Confirmed for the umpteenth time: Romney is the white Obama
Norwegian on February 4, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Romney and his staff need to realize that their free pass from the media has expired. All actions and words should be considered for how they can be spun by the press to damage his campaign, and then a counter should be planned, canned and ready to execute.
In all seriousness, if he cannot put a team together that understands the need for contingency planning he is demonstrating a real lack of judgement and leadership. He is in a fight and his organization keeps seeming to be surprised when they get hit.
Nathan_OH on February 4, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Confirmation: Romney likes to fire people.
portlandon on February 4, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2