Looking younger than his 54 years, trim, intense, Mitt Romney gives the air of being in total control of a situation.

In this case, it's an interview with two newspaper reporters asking him how he feels about being named one of the 10 most influential people in Utah.

Romney says he's stunned. He's not actually a Utahn but a transplanted Massachusetts multimillionaire who came to Salt Lake City in early 1999 to run the 2002 Organizing Committee after a bribery scandal rocked the committee.

He then professes he has no real influence at all in Utah — except perhaps as a beggar as he seeks corporate sponsorships to pay for the Games, tax breaks from local governments and patience and tolerance from the Utah Legislature over the $59 million the state spent building Olympic venues.

"I see myself as being totally committed to staging the Olympics," Romney said, assessing his standing. "And I'm very involved in the community and business environment as it relates to hosting the Olympics. But in this position, I have to make every effort to avoid becoming involved in any way in political or divisive issues, so that the Olympics can stand for what it is instead of taking on the trappings of all the organizations with whom we deal.

"So I stay out of state political issues, federal political issues, partisan politics. And I have pretty much stayed out of the halls of power except coming to ask for help in staging the Olympic Games," said Romney, who ran in Massachusetts against U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994 and today is listed as one of the top GOP contenders for Massachusetts governor in the fall of 2002.

But Romney is not low-profile. He is often seen on local TV, quoted in Utah newspapers. When the national media come calling, Romney is accessible.

A friend to all, Romney says he is not a glad-hander. "I am not at all the schmoozer. My style is entirely direct and business-based." He uses slide shows to ask sponsors to sign up and pay millions of dollars to be part of the Olympics.

"Salt Lake City and Utah will be defined for literally billions of people worldwide through the Olympic Games. So as the leader of the Salt Lake Olympic team, surely the role that I play will have influence in the community — but in a very different sense than I think you would think of for most of the dealmakers, politicians, business people in this community."