Once-reluctant Mitt Romney opens up on the campaign trail - “Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose!”

Washington Post ^ | October 6, 2012 | Philip Rucker,

[Cincinatus' Wife]

ST. PETERSBURG,Fla.—Mitt Romney, his friends often say, is a private man in a public world. But with just one month left until the election, he has calculated that to win the presidency he must do what for years he has been loath to: share intimate stories about his life.

So it was that as the sun set on his rally here Friday night,...Romney talked about David for the first time himself.

“It was clear he was not going to make it,”Romney said. “I went into his room one night when he was in bed,and he asked me a very difficult question. He said, ‘Mitt, what’s next?’ He called me ‘Brother Romney.’ ‘What’s next?’ And I talked to him about what I believe is next.”

A few days later, when David was in the hospital,he called Romney.

“I was at work and he said,‘Can you come by?’ And he said,‘You went to law school, right?'”

Romney told him yes. “He said,‘Could you come by and write my will for me?'” Romney recalled. “So I went to David’s bedside and got a piece of legal paper, made it look very official. And then David proceeded to tell me what he wanted to give his friends. Talked about his fishing rod, and who would get that. He talked about his skateboard, who’d get that. And his rifle — that went to his brother.”

“I’ve seen the character of a young man like David,” Romney continued. “He had his eyes wide open. There’s a saying — Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.’ David couldn’t lose. I loved that young man.”

It just so happens that a banner with the same adage hung over Romney’s holding room backstage at Wednesday night’s debate in Denver. As he walked out to debate the president,Romney looked up and read, “Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose!”

[nhwingut]

[SubMareener]

It is beginning to look more and more as if the correct person was chosen to run this time. We may still be under the Protection of Divine Providence.

[MrChips]

This is a beautiful story, and a beautiful picture. The link to the WASHPOST does not seem to contain the story, though. Odd.

[skeeter]

It may be cynical for me to say, but this approach is going to win it for him.

[Hoodat]

On Friday night in St. Petersburg, Romney talked about David for the first time himself.

“It was clear he was not going to make it,” Romney said. “I went into his room one night when he was in bed, and he asked me a very difficult question. He said, ‘Mitt, what’s next?’ He called me ‘Brother Romney.’ ‘What’s next?’ And I talked to him about what I believe is next.”

A few days later, when David was in the hospital, he called Romney.

“I was at work and he said, ‘Can you come by?’ And he said, ‘You went to law school, right?’ " Romney told him yes. “He said, ‘Could you come by and write my will for me?’ ”

---

This brings tears to my eyes.

[DJ MacWoW]

“The guy who was playing Mitt Romney said he refuses to close a loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every single year,”

Click The Pic To Donate

Too bad That Romney Never Said It.........

[djf]

I think there will be civil war if Obama gets elected.

I think there will be civil war if Romney gets elected.

It’s basically the free-loaders vs. the freedom-lovers, and if government gets totally behind the first group, America will cease to exist.

[nhwingut]

I had the photo. It was posted on Twitter by Mitt’s team.

Mitt uses that sign as a good luck before/after debates and big events. It’s his Team’s motto, like a locker room sign for a football team.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you!! Most pictures are hard to find or very teeny. It looks like Romney is getting very large crowds.

[LARA CERRI | Tampa Bay Times] The line of Romney supporters stretched from the Pier to the Renaissance Vinoy. Several local lawmakers also attended, including U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and C.W. Bill Young, former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker and former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco.

[Corey Perrine/Staff Naples News] Mitt waves to the crowd after delivering a speech Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 at Pier Park in St. Petersburg, Fla. Romney, Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency, continued his tour of swing states in a tight race toward Nov. 6, Election Day.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The link to the WASHPOST does not seem to contain the story, though. Odd.

I just clicked on the link and it is does go to the source (posted article).

[Oldeconomybuyer]

... “Romney told of ministering to the needy in his Mormon church, including a 14-year-old who was dying of leukemia and summoned “Brother Romney” to his bedside. He also spoke of an old friend who ended up a quadriplegic after an accident, came to see Romney recently and died the next day.”...

[Loud Mime]

After reading Machiavelli, I must agree with you, as you agree with him.

[nhwingut]

Mitt’s Body Man on Twitter posts great pictures all day. As does Team Romney

https://twitter.com/dgjackson

https://twitter.com/TeamRomney

[nhwingut]

I think he was talking about the photo.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Try this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/once-reluctant-mitt-romney-opens-up-on-the-campaign-trail/2012/10/06/93d78aba-0fde-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_print.html

[nhwingut]

Very touching...

Romney talked about his graduate school classmate Billy, who started a successful business but got in an accident and became quadriplegic. After the accident, Romney said, Billy devoted himself to spinal injury research. A few weeks ago, he came to one of Romney’s campaign events, in Atlanta.

“It’s not easy for Billy to get around quadriplegic. . . . He can’t move, of course, his arms and his legs, and he can barely speak, and they brought him forward, a big crowd around him, very hot,” Romney said. “I reached down and I put my hand on Billy’s shoulder and I whispered into his ear. I said, ‘Billy, God bless you. I love ya.’ And he whispered right back to me — and I couldn’t quite hear what he said. He tried to speak loud enough for me to hear. He died the next day.”

[fireman15]

It is so easy to be a cynic these days; especially when trying to see through the cloud made by political dirty tricks and the media. I think that you might be right despite favoring others in the primary, Mitt might turn out to be the best we had to beat Obama. I don’t know if the Obama campaigns billion dollars in largely questionable donations is going to be enough to keep the electorate confused about what is going on.

[nhwingut]

[jocon307]

“The link to the WASHPOST does not seem to contain the story, though.”

You have to go to the second page. And they don’t have the picture shown here, nice shot of the plane though.