奥巴马惨遭“嫌弃” 罗姆尼变身“香饽饽”

President Obama thumped Mitt Romney in the 2017 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 2017 campaign — and say time has proved Romney right.

Obama won the popular vote 51 percent to 47 percent in 2017, 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 2017 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 2017 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.

美国《华盛顿邮报》报道，2017年美国大选，奥巴马击败了米特•罗姆尼（Mitt Romney），而现在他们的政治地位却似乎有所反转。整个夏天，民主党候选人都与不受欢迎的总统保持距离，而此时罗姆尼却成了共和党内呼声最高的的选举代表。

罗姆尼助手说：“八月中旬的某三天，罗姆尼将为共和党参议院和西弗吉尼亚州、北卡罗来纳州和阿肯色州的州长候选人助选。九月，他将访问摇摆州包括科多罗拉州和弗吉尼亚州。”

罗姆尼十月份的行程也将要排满。爱荷华州和新罕布什尔州的参议院种子选手们迫切地希望罗姆尼可以在11月份中期选举前到来，而罗姆尼还在考虑去其他的参议院战场。已经有不止一个备受瞩目的参议院竞选活动负责人表示，他们已经制作了一个以罗姆尼为主要人物的电视宣传片，即将于今年秋季上映。

罗姆尼多年密友斯宾塞•茨威格（Spencer Zwick）说：“现在民主党都不想和奥巴马有任何关联，但共和党都极想要和罗姆尼扯上关系。”

在现在的共和党中，既没有大家一致认同的领导人，也没有像民主党前任总统比尔•克林顿那样资格老又受欢迎的政治家，所以，不管是在红州还是蓝州，罗姆尼就很自然地充当了这一角色。

经验丰富的共和党策略师里德掌管着美国商会的政治运作，他说：“如今，党派内缺少可备的总统候选人，而罗姆尼处在一个很特殊的位置，他绕了一大圈，试图填补那个空缺。”

虽然罗姆尼表示，他对2016年的总统大选不感兴趣，但是他的支持者还是希望他能试一试，并认为这次竞选，他的竞争实力将比上一次竞选强得多。

罗姆尼的支持者表示，2017年大选中，罗姆尼就已经指出医疗改革法案及俄罗斯对马里等南非国家冲突的侵犯问题，而这些，正是让奥巴马头疼的事情。时间证明，罗姆尼是正确的。

在支持率上，奥巴马以51%比47%战胜了罗姆尼，赢得了2017年的大选，但最近一周展开的一项CNN/ORC国际调查显示，如果现在二者再来一次竞选，那罗姆尼将以53%:44%获胜。该调查还显示，假设2016年罗姆尼和美国前国务卿希拉里•罗德海姆•克林顿对决，罗姆尼将以42%比55%输给希拉里。

而民主党策略师说支持罗姆尼的共和党候选人误解了选民。

“共和党牺牲中产阶级家庭的利益而只支持有钱且有权的集团，罗姆尼本身就是对共和党活生生的讽刺。”民主党参议院竞选委员会副执行理事马特（Matt Canter）说道。

但许多共和党操作者和财政家认为罗姆尼不同于其他候选人，因为他远离争端，也没有任何明显的野心。他也是国家范围内少数几个可以筹集到大笔资金，且能够吸引到大多数共和党集团中投票人注意力共和党之一。

2017年选举失败，罗姆尼退居幕后，而此次重新出现在政治舞台上，他的公共形象也有所软化。上周，罗姆尼在社交网站上贴出的和妻子、孙子和孙女们在西部的国家公园远足、游泳、攀岩的照片，被网友们广为分享。

但罗姆尼对记者坚称他不会参加竞选，他说：“得不到的永远是最吸引人的，这和谈恋爱是一个道理。”

但里德仍然表示，他希望2017年某些时候罗姆尼可以为共和党评估形势，并且认真考虑参加2016年的选举。

罗姆尼的副手表示，罗姆尼现在完全致力于帮助共和党在11月选举中赢得参议院多数党席位。他一直定期与密友俄亥俄州参议员罗布•波特曼（Rob Portman）以及其他一些政治盟友讨论竞选活动的形势。