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Michigan Primary A Test Of Romney's Family Legacy

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A supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a vintage campaign poster of Romney's father, George Romney, in Albion, Mich.

Credit Courtesy of Romney family / AP

George Romney holds infant Willard "Mitt" Romney, the youngest of his four children, in this 1947 family photo.

Credit Romney family via Romney for President Inc. / AP

Mitt with his father in their Detroit home in 1957, when George Romney was CEO of American Motors Corp.

Credit Courtesy of Romney family / AP

A young Mitt sits behind the wheel of his father's Rambler.

Credit AP

Flanked by his wife, Lenore, and son Mitt, George Romney announces his run for governor of Michigan at a news conference in 1962.

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A 14-year-old Mitt hugs his father after George Romney announces his candidacy for governor on Feb. 10, 1962.

Credit Romney family via Romney for President Inc. / AP

George Romney with his two sons, Mitt (left) and Scott, in an undated photo from their home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

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George Romney, then the governor of Michigan, walks with family members to the World's Fair in New York in May 1964. Mitt is at far left.

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George and Mitt Romney look out over the grounds of the World's Fair in 1964. The World's Fair included exhibits from several automobile companies.

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The Romney family in their Bloomfield Hills, Mich., home, on Jan. 1, 1968. Mitt is standing in back.

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George and Lenore Romney with Mitt and his then-fiancée, Ann Davies, outside their Washington hotel on Jan. 19, 1969, a day before Richard Nixon's inauguration.

Credit AP / LM Otero

Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, look up at a portrait of his late father at the Capitol rotunda in Lansing, Mich., in 2008.

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Mitt Romney holds a poster of his father, given to him at a campaign rally in Spartanburg, S.C., in January.

By Don Gonyea

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 8:59 am

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Michigan and Arizona hold presidential primaries Tuesday, and in Michigan, where Mitt Romney was born, the race has been as hard-fought as anywhere in the country.

For Romney, the campaign there has been personal. He often evokes the Michigan of his youth, when his father, George, ran American Motors and went on to become a very popular three-term governor.

But does that family legacy mean anything today?

If you were to go to a Romney event in Detroit or Kalamazoo or Traverse City, you'd be almost guaranteed to hear some Romney family history.

6:03 pm

Mon February 27, 2012

New Republic: In Michigan With The Santorum Revival

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum greets people during a campaign stop on Feb. 26, 2012 in Davison, Michigan. Michigan residents will go to the polls on Feb. 28 to vote for their choice in the Republican presidential race.

By Jonathan Cohn

Originally published on Mon February 27, 2012 6:59 am

Jonathan Cohn is a senior editor at The New Republic.

Mitt Romney is the candidate from Michigan. But on Sunday night, Rick Santorum was the one making a personal connection here. And it wasn't quite the one that I expected.

6:02 pm

Mon February 27, 2012

Why Middle Class Jobs Are Disappearing, And What Workers Can Do About It

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Meet the twenty-first century tax accountant: a piece of software.

By editor

Originally published on Mon February 27, 2012 3:10 pm

Young workers used to have plenty of fall-back options when their dream jobs fell through. But as Adam Davidson writes in his latest column, "many economists fear that the comfortable Plan B jobs are disappearing."

6:01 pm

Mon February 27, 2012

Weekly Standard: Romney Sips Some Tea

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 26, 2012 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Romney is campaigning for upcoming primaries in Arizona and Michigan.

By Stephen F. Hayes

Originally published on Mon February 27, 2012 7:00 am

Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.

Mitt Romney, in jeans and a blue and white oxford, stood just to the right of the stage at Baker's of Milford Banquet Hall, nodding his head slightly as an enthusiastic soloist with a wireless microphone belted out the first verse of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." The former Massachusetts governor smiled and joined most of the crowd for the chorus. "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free."

6:00 pm

Mon February 27, 2012

China On The Court: NBA Meets The 'Brave Dragons'

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Credit Ruth Fremson / Knopf

Jim Yardley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has served for eight years as a New York Times foreign correspondent and bureau chief in China and India. He is also an avid basketball fan.

By Maureen Corrigan

Originally published on Mon February 27, 2012 10:16 am

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"Linsanity" is the magical byword of this basketball season. As anyone who is even semi-conscious knows, Jeremy Lin, the NBA's first Taiwanese-American player by way of Harvard, was passed over for college athletic scholarships and ignored in NBA drafts. Then, he landed with the New York Knicks and has since proved to everybody that athletic prejudice against Asians is Lincredibly stupid. Except, as journalist Jim Yardley points out in his new book on basketball fever in China, Chinese players and coaches happen to endorse that prejudice.

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10:01 pm

Mon February 27, 2012