Romney rips Kerry, is quizzed about '08

Still, the sniping from Bay State Democrats who say Romney is campaigning for the presidency has reached a steady hum. The chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, Philip W. Johnston, was in Des Moines Saturday, to attend a Democratic fund-raiser a few blocks away and to respond to Romney in person.

"He's trying to trash John Kerry, and it shouldn't go unanswered," Johnston said. "He's just jump-starting his own presidential campaign."

The Bush campaign has made eager use of Romney, who visited New Hampshire and Michigan for Bush earlier this year and delivered a prime-time speech at the Republican convention. Scott Stanzel, a Bush campaign spokesman, said Romney is a valuable ally because he brings on-the-ground knowledge of Kerry's time in the US Senate.

"He is well-positioned to discuss John Kerry's out-of-the-mainstream record," Stanzel said.

Romney appears to be taking advantage of the opportunity in ways that coincide with his own political interests. The fund-raiser he attended Friday night for an Oklahoma congressman was a chance to reach out to cultural conservatives, who may be skeptical of the chances of a Republican from the Northeast in a national campaign.

Of course, there was Saturday's trip to Iowa, where the cultivation of local activists by ambitious politicians has become as much of a staple as the corn crop. Romney had his first meeting with some of the key players when he stopped by a breakfast meeting of the Iowa delegation to the Republican convention.

"You're killing two birds with one stone. You're doing good for others while doing good for yourself," Steve Roberts, Iowa's representative on the Republican National Committee, said of Romney's meetings with Iowans on behalf of the Bush-Cheney ticket. "He's very articulate, and very able, and a very attractive candidate. He has the potential."

The attendees of Friday night's reception were many of the party faithful and donors who any candidate would need for a presidential run. Of course, Romney isn't the only politician to have realized that; Governor George Pataki of New York headlined the Reagan dinner last year and came back for a county GOP fund-raiser last month. Such big-name Republicans as Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and former mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York have also made recent appearances in Iowa.

"The people who come in here to speak are not a random sample of politicians. These are people who are at least contemplating their futures," said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Iowa. "If you are going to run in the Iowa caucuses, these are the people to start with."