Eric Thayer for The New York Times
Mitt Romney with his sons Craig, left, Matt, center, and Tagg, speaking, in Nevada, Iowa, on Friday.
More Photos > Published: August 11, 2007
AMES,
Iowa, Aug. 10 — They have driven here from California, Ohio, Canada and Texas; flown from Michigan, Utah and Florida. There are aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, in-laws, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
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Slide Show A Romney Family Project 
Five Brothers on the Campaign Trail The Caucus 
At last count, 96 members of the Romney clan, a veritable army, have arrived here over the last few days to help out at Saturday’s Republican straw poll, bolstering what is already a huge ground operation for the event that far outstrips any other campaign for the party’s 2008 presidential nomination.
Leading the shock troops will be Mr. Romney’s five sons, who have come to occupy an increasingly prominent place in his campaign, giving speeches, being hosts at fund-raisers, blogging and even weighing in on strategy, all the while helping their father paint a not-so-subtle contrast to some of his leading rivals.
It is Mr. Romney’s family portrait that lends him credibility in his appeals to all-important social conservative voters here, many of whom are still grappling with whether to believe he is really one of them despite some of his past positions, like support of
abortion rights.
Mr. Romney mentions his high school sweetheart and wife of nearly 40 years, Ann, their five sons and 10 grandchildren almost without fail on campaign stops, often just before plunging into language about strengthening the American family and the importance of “family values.” Campaign appearances often feature him, his wife, a son or two and even a grandchild.
In contrast,
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is leading in the Republican polls, has been married three times and his two children are not campaigning with him. (Earlier this week, Mr. Giuliani’s daughter, Caroline, drew headlines when it was revealed that she had expressed support online for Senator
Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois.)
Of the hordes of Romneys here, perhaps nobody plays a more central role than Tagg Romney, 37, the eldest son. At debates, he has become one of the campaign’s most visible representatives in the spin room. He is also part of his father’s inner circle, usually the quickest to offer an unfiltered critique about how he performed in an event. In campaign staff meetings, Tagg Romney acts a representative of his father, often pressing others for the kind of additional data to back up their decisions that he anticipates his father will want.
He is also the one whom many in the campaign turn to when they need to deliver difficult advice to the elder Mr. Romney, nudge him on a strategic decision or even to tell him not to use the phrase “null set,” as he did twice during the Republican debate in New Hampshire. In February, when the campaign’s budget committee decided it needed to allocate more money to building up its staff on the ground in the early voting states — while Mr. Romney wanted to save more for last-minute advertising — it was Tagg Romney they turned to for help persuading his father to change his mind.
Even so, those inside the campaign said Tagg Romney wore his connection to his father loosely. His other main function, they said, is that of head cheerleader for morale, organizing softball, touch football and most recently a staff tennis tournament, with the championship held at the court at his parents’ house.
It was Tagg Romney who organized the extended family’s effort here this week for the straw poll. They will be greeting the people arriving from across the state on campaign buses and escorting them to the voting booths. Even the grandchildren have been delegated to offer a hearty Romney welcome.
The most visible emblem of the sons’ involvement in the campaign has become the “Mitt Mobile,” an R.V. bought on eBay by
Mitt Romney that Josh Romney, 31, a real estate developer in Salt Lake City, spent the summer driving to all 99 counties in Iowa. It will now make its way across the country.
Of the other sons, Matt Romney, 35, a real estate developer in San Diego, has concentrated on fund-raising, tapping his business contacts from Harvard Business School (three of the five Romney sons graduated from the institution). Craig Romney, 26, a music producer at an advertising agency in New York, is about to take an extended leave from his company to join the campaign full time. He has visited the most states of all the sons, 16 or 17 in all. Even Ben Romney, 29, a third-year medical student, has been able to squeeze in some campaign appearances.
The Romney sons, who write about their father and their travels on the campaign’s blog, The Five Brothers, have drawn mocking on the Internet for what have been called cloying posts and for somehow appearing too wholesome. Mrs. Romney was tarred during her husband’s 1994 run for the Senate when she said that she and her husband had never argued, and just this week the candidate drew criticism when he defended his sons’ decision not to serve in the armed forces and added, “One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected.”
The brothers declare their family is hardly perfect, but describe a childhood steeped in Mormonism and family. Days would start with Scripture study at a neighbor’s house before school. Sundays were devoted to church. Monday evenings typically featured one of the parents giving a short Scripture lesson.
This is not the first time that relatives have pitched in on a campaign. In Mr. Romney’s unsuccessful race for the Senate in 1994 in Massachusetts, his father, George Romney, a former governor of Michigan and onetime presidential hopeful himself who was by then in his 80s, led 58 family members who descended upon the state to stump.
This time, there are just more of them.
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