More plainly, Romney needs to have the American people believe that, as president, he will be the kind of decisive leader Massachusetts voters clamored to have after seeing his success in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Brown, meanwhile, has to demonstrate that he is committed to the independent views he has demonstrated since 2010 and will not recede into the partisan division he has boasted of avoiding.
This past week brought fresh examples of Romney’s challenge and Brown’s hope.
Romney attended perhaps the shortest, most stilted endorsement news conference ever when he appeared in Las Vegas to receive the backing of real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump.
Romney had sought Trump’s backing last year, but he secretly entered and left their New York meeting to avoid having a photo of the two men together.
Yet on Thursday, Romney and his wife, Ann, joined Trump amid the spectacle of his eponymous hotel just off the Vegas Strip to receive an endorsement that, the night before, rival Newt Gingrich apparently thought was going to him.
“There are some things that you just can’t imagine happening in your life. This is one of them,’’ said Romney. “Being in Donald Trump’s magnificent hotel and having his endorsement is a delight.’’
The event lasted six minutes.
Last year, Trump belittled Romney’s wealth and the corporate career he says is the prime reason to elect him president, with the billionaire labeling the multimillionaire a “small businessman.’’
Romney, meanwhile, flatly rejected the “birther’’ challenges to President Obama’s citizenship fueled with great bombast by Trump.
Yet last week, with a respect he did not afford onetime rival Jon Huntsman when he endorsed Romney, the candidate arranged his daily schedule to appear with Trump. And he brought along the jewel of his personal life.
