Yet voters crave personal connections with candidates — George W. Bush was the person people wanted to drink a beer with, Bill Clinton felt voters’ pain — and political watchers and some Romney supporters believe the Republican is blowing an opportunity to shine a light on the more appealing parts of his background…

Romney made a rare faith-centered speech on Friday, quoting from scripture in well-received remarks hours after the shootings in Aurora, Colo. Still, Romney has failed to create a positive narrative around his successful Bain tenure despite relentless attacks from both parties on his business career in the primaries and in the general election (his side says stalemated polls show those attacks aren’t working).

And he does not talk about what people close to him describe as a lengthy list of charitable works, neighborly help and major donations, in part out of personal discomfort with focusing on his good deeds and, in some measure, several Romney backers say, because it will focus attention on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion that’s rapidly growing but about which misperceptions remain.

Romney’s other major achievement, saving the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Olympics in Utah, was how he introduced himself to voters in his 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, and he is leaning into that image with his trip to London for the games’ opening ceremony this week. But even Mitt-the-Olympic-savior is not a meme that has been repeated very often from Boston so far (that is likely to change in advertisements during the games).