Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Romney Political History in Michigan

This George Weeks Michigan Politics article in The St. Ignace News doesn't really help nothing, no how, but I thought it rather interesting.

  • Michigan Politics
  • Romney Clan 7 for 10 in State Elections Since '60s
  • By George Weeks
  • Mitt Romney's decisive victory in the GOP presidential primary last week was the seventh time a Romney won a statewide contest in Michigan. They had three losses.

    Before Mitt, it was, in this order, father George, mother Lenore, ex-sister in-law Ronna, and brother Scott. The tally:

    • George Romney: His first partisan undertaking was in 1961 as a Republican candidate from Oakland County to be a delegate to the convention that produced Michigan's Constitution of 1963.

    As 1959 founder of Citizens for Michigan, he was the driving force behind calling of the Constitutional Convention, and had sought to become its president, but a deadlock developed as Romney had his first in a long career of clashes with party conservatives. He had to settle for being one of three vice-presidents.

  • Lenore Romney: At a contentious meeting of party pooh bahs at a hotel across the street from the Capitol, she won consensus leadership support for the 1970 nomination over U.S. Representative Don Riegle of Flint (who later was a 1976-94 senator as a Democrat).
  • G. Scott Romney: Brother of Mitt, he was touted by then-Governor John Engler to be the 1998 Republican State Convention choice nominee for attorney general. The nomination went instead to John Smietanka, who was the 1994 AG nominee and lost in 1998 to Jennifer Granholm.
  • There's some validity to the Engler camp contention that there would not be a Governor Granholm today if Scott Romney, who has the moves, eyes, chiseled jaw, and intensity of the father, had been the GOP AG nominee on 1998 ballot.
  • Ronna Romney: Ex-wife of Scott and former Republican national committeewoman, she lost with 48% of the 1994 primary vote against former Republican State Chairman Spencer Abraham (who won the open seat for one term).
More interesting Michigan/Romney political info here.

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