On the road with Romney

There is more to a campaign event experience than just the candidate's speech and a crowd waving posters. Sometimes it's the little things — even those behind the scenes — that makes thing memorable.

• You know you are in Michigan when a restaurant menu says "pop" under beverages (that's soda for those not familiar with Midwest lingo) and there is no fry sauce.

• Will the fact that Romney is from Michigan hurt his chances to win votes in Ohio? His brother, G. Scott Romney , is a trustee for Michigan State University, a bitter rival of Ohio State University.

• The hotel shuttle bus driver in Dearborn, Mich., was very nice but could not comprehend why anyone would need to go to the Henry Ford Museum (where Romney was to announce his candidacy) at 7:30 a.m. "Everything is pretty much locked up there, ma'am," he said.

• The car theme of Tuesday's announcement at the Henry Ford museum even made its way into the event's soundtrack. Ann Romney took that stage to the line "Who's the lady coming down the road?" from the 1980s Billy Ocean hit "Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car," which continued as Mitt Romney took the stage. "Life Is a Highway" was the exit song.

• The basic campaign poster just says Mitt Romney with ".com" in smaller letters to help lead people to the campaign Web site. Stickers say "Mitt '08" or mimic the signs. One supporter wore a button that had Romney's face with "Official Mitt Head" written around it. "We want Mitt!" is the chant of choice.

• The campaign diet consists of granola bars or Nutter Butters from a snack basket on the press charter from Michigan to Iowa. In the filing room in Iowa, there was a delicious buffet of Funyuns, Doritos (the new Buffalo and Ranch flavor) and Keebler fudge striped cookies. The Diet Coke was supposed to balance out the carbs.

• The word "transform" or a version of it appeared in the prepared text of the Romney's speech 13 times, "innovation" nine times, "jihad" four times. Mitt and Ann Romney each like calling each other "sweetheart." Michigan might be known for cars or apples, but it is also where the Romneys "fell in love."

Joni Scotter of Mariam, Iowa, hugged Mitt and Ann Romney and then lifted up her sweatshirt. At first, she looked like the first flasher of the campaign, but instead she was showing the potential first family a T-shirt she was wearing from a Clambake held in Mitt's honor at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. It was where Scotter first met the Romneys, she said.

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Compiled by Suzanne Struglinski from Dearborn, Mich., and Des Moines, Iowa.