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WASHINGTON - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may not be the Republican frontrunner in the race for president, but Democrats already appear threatened by him.
Several Democratic political strategists say of the candidates now hoping for the 2008 Republican nomination, Romney is a fearsome contender. The good-looking businessman has charisma, a history of private sector experience and a golden platform on health care reform.
Since Election Day, the Democratic National Committee has issued 15 news releases slamming Romney - more than any other Republican eyeing the White House. Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of the frontrunners, was the subject of 11, while former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is polling at the head of the pack, felt heat from only one release.
Likewise, Democrats already are attacking Romney in other ways, as evidenced by a video released on YouTube last week showcasing Romney's positions for legalized abortion and allowing gays into the Boy Scouts in 1994, the year he ran for the U.S. Senate. A Democratic operative who has also unveiled anti-McCain videos posted that video, which has been viewed about 41,000 times. It prompted Romney to say his previous stands were wrong.
"The fact that the DNC is spending so much time beating up on him shows that they see him as a serious top-tier candidate," says a Democratic consultant in Washington who has worked on several previous presidential campaigns.
The Republican field likely will grow as soon as several potential contenders form exploratory committees. In addition to Romney, eight other Republicans have filed papers with the Federal Election Commission and four others are waiting in the wings.
Romney, who has been attacked for changing positions since his failed Senate bid, has emerged as a target likely because he has been publicly active raising money, traveling to early primary states and signing up supporters.
"Democratic strategists are secretly more fearful of running against Romney," says Chuck Todd, editor in chief of the political news outlet The Hotline. If Romney can get past the Republican nomination process, the guy who passed universal health care in his own state will be a "much tougher general election candidate" for the Democrats to beat than many believe, Todd predicts.
"He clearly has strengths that would make him a formidable general election candidate," says Jim Jordan, who served for a while as campaign manager for Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 2004. "He's smart, he's attractive and he's very smooth."
However, Jordan adds, referring to Romney's "evolved" positions, any Democrat would look forward to running against "a Republican whose central message is that everything I said and stood for 10 years is a lie."
For Romney's part, his exploratory committee says the DNC attacks show Romney's campaign "must be doing something right and secondly, that the Democrats are obsessively aware of Gov. Romney's current grass-roots success" and prospect to get the GOP nomination, says spokesman Kevin Madden.
"Nothing worries Democrat strategists more than a Republican governor with a stellar record on balanced budgets, lower taxes and getting results," Madden says. "In a certain respect, I don't blame them. I'd be worried about Governor Romney too if I were them."
Not so fast, says Stacie Paxton, press secretary for the DNC, who notes the Democrats have put out news releases on many of the Republicans now vying for the White House.
"Mitt Romney should be held accountable for his contradictory record, as should all the Republican presidential candidates," Paxton says.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who formed a presidential exploratory committee last week, has been a media darling of late, but also has been under attack from the right because he is a formidable contender, says a Democratic strategist in Washington who has worked in the top echelon of previous presidential campaigns.
"You could draw the same conclusion for Romney," says the Democrat, who requested anonymity since he was talking internal strategy. "The sincerest form of flattery is when the other side is attacking you more strongly."
And now New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has dived into the race, saying "I'm in, and I'm in to win."
Romney, some fear, could be an impressive GOP nominee, the strategist adds, "Because he's a blank slate, because he's a moderate Republican, and frankly, because he comes across well on television."
Democratic pollster Mark Mellman disagrees that Romney is more feared than the others in the GOP field. Mellman says Romney has "serious problems," including a lack of experience on the national stage and a "flip-flop" record.
"Mitt Romney is no magic bullet," Mellman says. "From a national perspective, he's an unknown Republican governor trying to climb onto the national stage, flip-flopping all the way."