奧巴馬慘遭“嫌棄” 羅姆尼變身“香餑餑”

President Obama thumped Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, but now their political standings seem reversed. During a summer in which Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from an unpopular president, Romney is emerging as one of the Republican Party’s most in-demand campaign surrogates.

Over three days in mid-August, Romney will campaign for GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates in West Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, aides said. In September, he is planning visits to the presidential swing states of Colorado and Virginia.

Romney is filling up his October schedule, as well. Senate hopefuls in Iowa and New Hampshire are eager for him to return before November’s midterms, while Romney is weighing trips to other Senate battlegrounds. At least one high-profile Senate campaign said it has produced a television advertisement featuring Romney ready to air in the fall.

“Democrats don’t want to be associated with Barack Obama right now, but Republicans are dying to be associated with Mitt Romney,” said Spencer Zwick, a longtime Romney confidant who chaired his national finance council.

For a party without a consensus leader — nor a popular elder statesman like Democratic former president Bill Clinton — Romney is stepping forward in both red and blue states to fill that role for the GOP.

“There’s a pretty big void in the party right now for national leaders, and Romney’s in a unique position, having been around the track, to help fill that void,” said Scott Reed, a veteran GOP strategist who oversees the US Chamber of Commerce’s political operation.

Romney continues to deny interest in a third presidential run in 2016, but his moves have his supporters yearning for him to give it a go and arguing that he would be a stronger candidate than last time.

Supporters also point to Obama’s struggles on crises ranging from his health-care law to Russian aggression to conflict in the North African country of Mali — all issues Romney raised in the 2012 campaign — and say time has proved Romney right.

Obama won the popular vote 51 percent to 47 percent in 2012, but a CNN/ORC International poll this past week showed Romney winning 53 percent to 44 percent if a rematch were held today. The same poll showed Romney losing to former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton 55 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical 2016 matchup.

Democratic strategists said GOP candidates who appear with Romney in their states are misreading voters.

“He is a walking, talking caricature of a Republican Party that favors only the very rich and big powerful corporations at a cost to middle-class families,” said Matt Canter, deputy executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

But in the minds of many Republican operatives and financiers, Romney stands apart from the others because he appears above the fray and without any overt personal ambition. He is also one of the few national Republicans who can raise significant amounts of money and capture the attention of voters in most GOP blocs.

After a retreat into seclusion following his 2012 loss, Romney’s reemergence on the political stage coincides with a softening of his public image. And last week, Romney posted widely shared pictures on social mediashowing him, wife Ann and five of their 22 grandchildren hiking, swimming and rock climbing during a summer tour of national parks in the West.

Romney insisted to reporters he would not run: “The unavailable is always the most attractive, right? That goes in dating, as well.”

Still, the Chamber’s Reed said he expects Romney to assess the GOP field sometime in 2015 and give serious consideration to another candidacy.

For now, Romney’s associates said, he is focused entirely on helping Republicans win the majority in the Senate in November. He communicates regularly about the campaign landscape with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is a close friend, and other political allies.美國《華盛頓郵報》報道，2012年美國大選，奧巴馬擊敗了米特•羅姆尼（Mitt Romney），而現在他們的政治地位卻似乎有所反轉。整個夏天，民主黨候選人都與不受歡迎的總統保持距離，而此時羅姆尼卻成了共和黨內呼聲最高的的選舉代表。

羅姆尼助手說：“八月中旬的某三天，羅姆尼將爲共和黨參議院和西弗吉尼亞州、北卡羅來納州和阿肯色州的州長候選人助選。九月，他將訪問搖擺州包括科多羅拉州和弗吉尼亞州。”

羅姆尼十月份的行程也將要排滿。愛荷華州和新罕布什爾州的參議院種子選手們迫切地希望羅姆尼可以在11月份中期選舉前到來，而羅姆尼還在考慮去其他的參議院戰場。已經有不止一個備受矚目的參議院競選活動負責人表示，他們已經制作了一個以羅姆尼爲主要人物的電視宣傳片，即將於今年秋季上映。

羅姆尼多年密友斯賓塞•茨威格（Spencer Zwick）說：“現在民主黨都不想和奧巴馬有任何關聯，但共和黨都極想要和羅姆尼扯上關係。”

在現在的共和黨中，既沒有大家一致認同的領導人，也沒有像民主黨前任總統比爾•克林頓那樣資格老又受歡迎的政治家，所以，不管是在紅州還是藍州，羅姆尼就很自然地充當了這一角色。

經驗豐富的共和黨策略師裏德掌管着美國商會的政治運作，他說：“如今，黨派內缺少可備的總統候選人，而羅姆尼處在一個很特殊的位置，他繞了一大圈，試圖填補那個空缺。”

雖然羅姆尼表示，他對2016年的總統大選不感興趣，但是他的支持者還是希望他能試一試，並認爲這次競選，他的競爭實力將比上一次競選強得多。

羅姆尼的支持者表示，2012年大選中，羅姆尼就已經指出醫療改革法案及俄羅斯對馬裏等南非國家衝突的侵犯問題，而這些，正是讓奧巴馬頭疼的事情。時間證明，羅姆尼是正確的。

在支持率上，奧巴馬以51%比47%戰勝了羅姆尼，贏得了2012年的大選，但最近一週展開的一項CNN/ORC國際調查顯示，如果現在二者再來一次競選，那羅姆尼將以53%:44%獲勝。該調查還顯示，假設2016年羅姆尼和美國前國務卿希拉里•羅德海姆•克林頓對決，羅姆尼將以42%比55%輸給希拉里。

而民主黨策略師說支持羅姆尼的共和黨候選人誤解了選民。

“共和黨犧牲中產階級家庭的利益而只支持有錢且有權的集團，羅姆尼本身就是對共和黨活生生的諷刺。”民主黨參議院競選委員會副執行理事馬特（Matt Canter）說道。

但許多共和黨操作者和財政家認爲羅姆尼不同於其他候選人，因爲他遠離爭端，也沒有任何明顯的野心。他也是國家範圍內少數幾個可以籌集到大筆資金，且能夠吸引到大多數共和黨集團中投票人注意力共和黨之一。

2012年選舉失敗，羅姆尼退居幕後，而此次重新出現在政治舞臺上，他的公共形象也有所軟化。上週，羅姆尼在社交網站上貼出的和妻子、孫子和孫女們在西部的國家公園遠足、游泳、攀巖的照片，被網友們廣爲分享。

但羅姆尼對記者堅稱他不會參加競選，他說：“得不到的永遠是最吸引人的，這和談戀愛是一個道理。”

但裏德仍然表示，他希望2015年某些時候羅姆尼可以爲共和黨評估形勢，並且認真考慮參加2016年的選舉。

羅姆尼的副手錶示，羅姆尼現在完全致力於幫助共和黨在11月選舉中贏得參議院多數黨席位。他一直定期與密友俄亥俄州參議員羅布•波特曼（Rob Portman）以及其他一些政治盟友討論競選活動的形勢。