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By Becky Relic, Capitol Management Initiatives, LLC on Thursday, January 17, 2008

Michigan—cars (fewer and fewer), cold (beers and winter) and crucial (Mitt Romney’s win).

The media had lots of folks believing that the race in Michigan between Mitt Romney and John McCain was going to be close. Some press reports even wanted the public to believe that this was going to be the end of the line for Romney. Instead, last night Romney pulled out a strong win, walloping McCain by nine points. In his concession speech McCain attributed his opponent’s win to “being the native son.” And that’s just how Romney ran, making it a local race, talking about the specific challenges at hand in Michigan.

In a speech this past Monday before the Detroit Economic Club—one of the preeminent venues for talking about the national economy—Romney made his message local: "Now I have to tell you, if I'm elected as President of this great land, I will not need a compass to tell me where Michigan is. And I won't need to be briefed on what's going on in the auto industry or what's happening to Michigan's economy. You see, I've got Michigan in my DNA. I've got it in my heart and I've got cars in my bloodstream… But a lot has changed since then, as you know, and not all of it is good. Michigan is enduring a one-state recession, and the problem has only been exacerbated by poor choices made by some of the leaders in Lansing to raise taxes and take that course instead of cutting spending.”

Romney may be on to something—acknowledging challenges locally and then finding ways to scale solutions nationally. In his speech to supporters after the Michigan primary, Romney ticked off several areas that need change, two of which are “better health care and better education.” If elected to the White House might Romney’s commitment to change (last night at his victory rally the signs read “Change Begins With Us”) take shape in the form of pairing an innovative local program with strong, sound public-private-government support for nationally scaled success? Could Mitt Romney—or any other candidate for that matter—scale a language/literacy/social skills program like JumpStart or a healthcare/social services program like Youth Villages as part of the answer to our nation’s needs?

With the Republican primary in a fabulous free for all, and Obama and Clinton continuing to slug it out on the Democratic side, now is the time for candidate differentiation. Nevada and South Carolina are tallying the votes on Saturday. Candidates, take your cue from Romney’s win in Michigan: embrace challenges locally; scale solutions nationally.

Becky Relic in a principal at Capitol Management Initiatives, LLC, a governmental affairs firm that is assisting the America Forward coalition with Republican outreach.

Posted in Election Insight