Romney faith speech decision highlights advisers' impact

CONCORD, N.H. — Republican Mitt Romney said Monday he's the decider, yet the presidential candidate has put aside his desire to deliver a speech about his Mormon faith on the advice of political staff — a move that speaks volumes about his campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor provides the money and persona, but he has largely yielded tactical decisions about what to say and when to say it — even on the subject of his personal faith — to a cadre of Washington insiders.

Romney bristled Monday at the suggestion he, a multimillionaire businessman but national political novice, was not the chief decisionmaker in his enterprise.

"I make my own decisions," he said before participating in a Veterans Day ceremony at a retirement home.

But asked Saturday by a New Hampshire voter about delivering a speech to explain his Mormon faith, Romney said: "I sort of like the idea myself. The political advisers tell me no, no, no — it's not a good idea. It draws too much attention to that issue alone."

The result runs counter to much of the decisionmaking that permeated Romney's business background.

He talks often about hiring smart people, letting them debate all sides of an issue and then making his own decisions.

In the case of a presidential campaign, though, Romney has proven willing to surrender his judgment about big things like whether to make a speech discussing his faith, or small issues like whether to answer a reporter's question on the way out the door.

"You know I can't talk to you without Eric's permission," the presidential candidate has said on more than one occasion as he has walked with his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom.

Fehrnstrom is a former Massachusetts official, but he modeled his Statehouse communications shop after the practices used in the Bush administration. He also is part of an increasingly outnumbered Massachusetts contingent in Romney's campaign headquarters.

Former CIA official Cofer Black, now vice chairman of Blackwater USA and head of Romney's national security team, has urged the candidate's hardline on Iran. Former Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota and one-time Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., are vetting his domestic policy pronouncements.

Stuart Stevens and Russ Schreifer, lead admakers for President Bush's two successful White House campaigns, are challenging another former Bush ad man, Alex Castellanos, for dominance in messaging and commercial imagery.

Meanwhile, Ron Kaufman, White House political director under former President George H.W. Bush, is an inner-circle political strategist.

And just last week, Todd Beyer, the recently departed director of White House advance, began providing advice about how best to stage Romney's political appearances.