In an effort to humanize both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, the Romney campaign has focused on choreographing photo ops that reveal the candidates' empathetic and charitable natures.
And as we saw this weekend, after Paul Ryan endearingly washed some clean pots at an empty Ohio soup kitchen, the Romney campaign is masterful at this:
Paul Ryan's brilliantly-executed photo op at an empty soup kitchen. Screen shot from WKBN, care of Jed Lewison.
As a recent bump in the polls shows, such striking photo ops appeared to be winning over undecided voters.
But the Romney campaign's successful charade may have come to an end, as aides today went into damage control mode after parts of the campaign's guide to manufacturing photo ops was leaked to the traveling press.
Among the items contained in the leaked set of memos was a list of potential photo opportunities for both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan:
- Find a picturesque church and rake already-organized leaf piles into different piles.
- Throw a cat (any cat) into a local homeowner's tree, then climb up and save it.
- At a construction site, hammer flush nails, mix leftover concrete and measure already-cut two-by-fours.
- At a school for the deaf, gather students on the playground and briefly read to them.
- Deflate basketballs at a local YMCA and re-inflate them using a hand pump.
- Find a vehicle with a flat tire outside a local (and closed) repair shop, lift the car with a manual jack, and then lower it back to the ground.
- Dig a hole, it doesn't matter where. That's it. Just dig a hole.
- Visit a Red Cross blood drive with sleeve rolled up, a bandage already applied and a "Be nice to me, I gave blood" sticker affixed to shirt.
While the campaign shrugged off any effect the leaked guide might have on voter impressions, it appeared some undecideds were already bristling at the news.
"You mean Romney didn't actually build that?" said a perturbed Arthur Clarke of Youngstown, Ohio, in reference to a photo of Romney with a hammer at a local Habitat for Humanity site.
And looking at a picture of Ryan mopping at a local pizzaria, Virginia McCordell of Durango, Colorado quipped, "He's rung me out to dry."
Indeed, Virginia. Indeed.