Then, just in case anyone didn't know it, he made it official:
"I believe in America," Romney said, "and I'm running for President of the United States."
Romney's focus is crystal clear.
"Barak Obama has failed America," he said. "This president's first answer to every problem is to take power from you, and from your local government, and from your state, so that his so-called experts in Washington can make decisions for you."
There were plenty of political reporters on hand, and news satellite trucks, too, but probably not as many as there would have been if no tornados had hit Massachusetts yesterday, making weather, not the White House–the biggest story.
A top Republican made the best of it:
"I'm glad it was yesterday," Ron Kaufman said, "and I'm glad that hurricane Palin is tonight. So it's perfect in between."
"So Mitt Romney has an "in" with the weatherman?" Hiller asked.
"I'm not going there."
So add Mitt Romney's formal announcement for the presidency to the long list of tornado damage. In the world of news, yesterday's tornados blew this event away, and the purpose of this event was to make news.
In New Hampshire, I'm Andy Hiller & that's my instinct.
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