What's not to like? (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Politico:
[A]s Romney seeks to nail down the GOP nomination and cement the narrative that the delegate math makes it nearly impossible for his remaining rivals to surpass him, his campaign has launched what passes for a media charm offensive. [...]
This week featured a happy hour with the traveling press at a downtown Boston pub and Romney himself broke with campaign precedent by visiting the back of the campaign’s charter airplane for a rare chat with reporters Tuesday before a flight from Ohio to Massachusetts.
"Hello human reporters! I see one of you is enjoying an iced cream. I also enjoy foods that deviate from standard room temperature! My, that briefcase seems to be the right height. All these briefcases seem to be the right height! I own 27 automobiles; they are all the right height too. Please convince your human inferiors to vote for me now."
Well, maybe some of that. But it turns out that "what passes for" a media charm offensive isn't really going to include more access to Romney himself (his campaign handlers are well aware of the issues that arise when Mitt, um, talks) but instead his top staff has agreed to perhaps not be so actively hostile to reporters:
Romney senior strategist Russ Schriefer and senior aide Eric Fehrnstrom were dispatched on troubleshooting missions last weekend. Schriefer dined with print reporters Thursday night in Bellevue, Wash., and Fehrnstrom hosted a dinner for the television embeds Monday in Columbus, Ohio.
Both senior staffers sat into the wee hours with more than a dozen members of the traveling press in the bar of the Cleveland airport Sheraton Friday night.
This is a Republican campaign we're talking about, so I guess they figure if they give dinner and drinks to the press, the press is obligated to put out. The Romney campaign also agreed to perhaps return reporter phone calls and/or have conference calls with reporters during times when the flock of reporters following him around could actually be on those calls.
I'm not quite sure why it took until now for it to dawn on the Romney campaign that treating the press like crap might not be such a good idea when actively trying to get them to write nice things about you, but you still have to acknowledge that they're worlds ahead of the Gingrich and Santorum campaigns. At least they remember to get their candidate on the actual ballots.