BOSTON — In a sparsely decorated offices overlooking Boston Harbor, 83 full-time employees can now officially say they are working for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Some business cards might still stay "exploratory committee," but the campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial St. in Boston is up and running, complete with a media "war room" and Romney's personal office — which includes a 2002 Winter Olympics torch and photo of the opening ceremony.

Romney works there when he is in town, although lately those days have been limited as he maintains a heavy travel schedule visiting early primary states. He is in constant contact with the staff though, either via e-mail on his Blackberry or on the phone.

"You never really know what is going to happen when you come in in the morning," said campaign manager Beth Myers. Myers worked for Romney during his term as Massachusetts governor.

There is a daily meeting where the staff goes through what is going on for the day and then usually by 9:30 a.m., everyone is off in their own directions. Some staff organizes events, plans trips, monitors the news and evaluates requests for appearances and interviews while other people work on his policies and issues.

The campaign had a tour of its headquarters for the media recently. Photos of Romney and his family line the wall, including photos of his father and old campaign posters from when he was governor of Michigan, and action shots from Romney's time as Massachusetts governor talking with soldiers or making a speech.

The staff is made up of Bush-Cheney 2004 election alums and some who worked for Romney when he was governor. All the offices or cubes have few personal touches yet, as the staff has barely settled in, most having just moved to the area.

Some observations:

• Behind Policy Director Sally Canfield's desk is a shelf of 17 white binders labeled Energy and Natural Resources, Budget Reform, Abortion/Family Planning, FEMA and other issue areas. Canfield is a former policy adviser to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. Her desk has the bag of M&Ms.

• Carl Forti, former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, is the deputy campaign manager and political director. A wipe board in his office list the dates of possible debates, the tentative primary dates and assignments for different staff members, including a potential "Olympians for Mitt" group.

• Matt Rhoades, a former Republican National Committee research director, is now Romney's communications director overseeing a 20-person communications department. He has one "Mitt" poster on his wall and a token photo of Ronald Reagan.

• Aaron Baer, who worked on the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, maintains the "war room" where 16 televisions line a wall showing everything from CNN and C-Span to the major networks and cable stations.

"You never know what's going to come on Cold Pizza," Baer said, referring to ESPN's morning show.

A rotating staff of interns monitors the televisions while watching blogs and newspaper Web sites for anything important related to the presidential campaign.

The campaign headquarters occupies three stories, 41,000 square feet, of a building that is supposed to be torn down so luxury condos can be built. The first floor is unoccupied at this point, giving the staff room to grow.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com