After spending most of the past year quietly tending to his own race, Romney is using his formidable national profile and expansive political network to elect embattled Republicans across the country. Weeks before his virtually assured election to the Senate, the 2012 Republican standard-bearer is issuing endorsements, appearing in TV ads and fundraising for hopefuls up and down the ballot…

Behind the scenes, other Republican candidates are reaching out to Romney for help.

“When he announced that he was going to run, I knew immediately that this is the type of candidate-slash-senator that he would be, and that he would jump into this role years ahead of what an average freshman senator would do,” said Curtis. “He’s already reaching out and being helpful to other people.”