Mitt Keeps Own Counsel

In some ways, Mitt Romney oversees his campaign like the former chief executive he is. Absent a Rovean mastermind, the Romney campaign relies on a core group of people who work closely with the Republican candidate, people close to the campaign have said, drawing on the former Massachusetts governor’s own idea on how to travel the road they hope will take them to the White House. “You have a group of people there that are mature, collaborative, very little personality conflict and turf fighting and the like,” former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, a Romney surrogate, told reporters. Recently, Romney seems to have been advising himself to forge more direct attacks on his Democratic opponent, staging counterrallies at some Obama campaign events.