Mitt Romney sets his sights on winning Michigan

After a combative week on the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrived in Michigan Saturday declaring that it was “good to be home.”

The son of revered former Gov. George Romney, who served three terms in the 1960s, received a hero’s welcome at the docks as he arrived on tiny Mackinac Island Saturday for a conference that will include dueling speeches with his archrival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Though President Obama won Michigan by 16 points in the 2008 election, Romney showed his appeal and the strength of his family name here in the 2008 when he defeated John McCain in the state’s 2008 primary. Michigan will once again play an influential role in 2012. State lawmakers recently agreed to set their contest for Feb. 28, a few weeks after the early contests of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney is competing for the attention of state leaders and activists at the Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, but he left no doubt Saturday morning that he intends to stake his claim to the state where he grew up.

Taking a turn at the steering wheel during the brief boat ride to Lake Huron’s Mackinac Island, which is just four square miles and does not allow cars, Romney reminisced about summer fishing trips with his father and a weekend date (chaperoned by his parents) with his now-wife, Ann Romney, when they began dating as teenagers. During the ride, Romney said he would “invest a lot of time in Michigan” to win the primary, which is open to Democrats and independents, and said he planned “on winning in Michigan if I’m the nominee.”

“This is a blue state, but I think, given my parents’ reputation here and the history of their contributions to the state, people will give me a very careful look” in the general election,” Romney said. “They won’t dismiss me because of my party even if they are independents or Democrats.”

During an early morning stop at the Driftwood Restaurant in St. Ignace, he told the breakfast crowd he’d visited every Michigan county while working on his father’s three gubernatorial campaigns.

“It feels very much like home, coming to the place where you’re born and raised. And I must admit, every place I go I see my mom and dad,” he said, reminiscing about his father’s power walks across the Mackinac Bridge. “You’re driving down the highway, that click, click, click of highway roads here in Michigan, that reminds me of my mom and dad.”

Ann Romney said with their Michigan roots and families “We’re just imbued in Midwestern values... If you really want to know why we’re in this race, it’s because of Mitt’s dad. It never would have occurred to us to even do politics.

The couple said they celebrated Ann’s 16th birthday on Mackinac – taking in the island on bikes and on horseback, indulging in some fudge, and taking a ride on the 15-foot boat that the former Massachusetts governor said he bought in high school.

“To be able to stay at Mackinac and to actually stay at the governor’s mansion was a real thrill for a 16-year-old girl, can you imagine?” Ann Romney told the breakfast crowd at the Driftwood.

“It’s a thrill for the date, too, I”ll tell you,” Mitt Romney said to laughter.

“Separate bedrooms,” Ann replied.

“It goes without saying,” her husband said. “We’re from the 1960s.”