Schoolboy pal recalls Romney as ‘regular goofball’

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney often is described as slick, polished, almost eerily handsome and articulate, straight as an arrow with a picture-perfect family to match.

That's not how Jeff Starr remembers him. Starr, a 57-year-old Las Vegan, was a year behind Romney at the Cranbrook School, a prestigious private academy in the Detroit suburbs, and "we were buddies," Starr said last week as he attended a meeting of campaign volunteers for the former Massachusetts governor.

"He was a regular goofball," Starr said of Romney. "We were troublemakers. He was nothing like he is now."

Starr didn't want to describe specific senior-class pranks that might embarrass Romney. "He was a senior, I was a junior; they would do things to get me in trouble," he said. "He never got caught. I was the only one who got caught."

Not that Starr is upset at his former classmate. Two weeks ago, Starr said, he became a U.S. citizen just so he can vote for Romney. "I was a Canadian citizen for 57 years," he said.

Starr a Las Vegan for 25 years, described himself as a "stock and option trader and real estate investor."

Of Romney's political platform, Starr said, "He's as right as anybody else. Nobody's right about everything. The kind of person who can turn around companies is the kind of person we need running the country."

RUNNING HOT AND COLD

The state's new early presidential nominating caucuses are making candidates reach out to Hispanic and labor voters, and making them sweat in Nevada's summer heat.

Political Notebook recently had a chance to ask a few Democratic candidates which was worse: winter in Iowa or summer in Las Vegas? The responses of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., were surprisingly revealing.

Richardson, sweaty from a door-to-door canvassing effort downtown, said, "I'm used to varying temperatures. I have no problems. My energy level is, as you know, very extensive. ... I have the best stamina of any candidate. I can outwork everybody and not get sick."

Analysis: A candidate who wants to show he's been there, done that, and wants you to see his résumé; laid-back and a bit rambling, but trying to make a case for electability.

Dodd, whose newly opened campaign office on Valley View Boulevard was less than fully air-conditioned, flashed a big grin and said, "They're both absolutely wonderful places when you're out harvesting delegates and caucus-goers."

Analysis: The practiced politician's pat reply. Glib, flattering, reflecting unabashed zeal for the process of campaigning, however uncomfortable.

Obama, who had just addressed a sweltering, packed house party in a Las Vegas neighborhood and had retired to the poolhouse for interviews, paused to give the question thought.

Had he tried winter in Iowa, he asked an aide? "Well, I guess after our announcement, that was in February. It was 7 degrees, I think, when I announced.

"I usually prefer heat over cold. You know, I grew up in Hawaii," he added. "But now, I got to admit, this is some serious heat here. This is no joke."

Analysis: In keeping with Obama's "different kind of candidate" image. Thoughtful, conversational, bracingly honest and devoid of rhetoric.

Not having had a chance to ask them, we assume that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., would have an impeccable talking point about her experience at the ready; former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards would say that, unlike him, poor people can't afford to heat or cool their homes; and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., in a 15-minute answer, would riff on temperatures around the world.

Contact political reporter Molly Ball at 387-2919 or MBall@reviewjournal.com.