Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s cash handout to an unemployed supporter on Friday has been seen as nothing more than a campaign tactic by critics, but the question remains of whether it helped humanize him in the eyes of middle class voters.
In recent weeks, rival Republican candidates have tried to pain the former Massachusetts governor as a wealthy businessman who is out of touch with the realities facing working class American citizens still reeling from one of the work economic periods in U.S. history. Thus, Mr. Romney’s actual placement of liquid cash in a supporter’s hands on Friday has to be a shock to some.
ABC News confirmed the unemployed Romney supporter as Ruth Williams, a woman in her 50s who claims to have been following Mr. Romney’s campaign bus since it arrived in South Carolina following the New Hampshire Republican primary race.
She has reportedly been out of work since October of 2010, and upon telling this to Mr. Romney he took out his wallet and gave her $50-60 in cash according to his campaign spokesman.
Ms. Williams also told reporters that Mr. Romney introduced her to South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley and that she has been volunteering at his campaign headquarters ever since meeting him and receiving the cash gift. Additionally, she said that South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis paid her light bill, which ABC News also confirmed with a spokesman for Mr. Loftis.
This is a much different candidate than the one depicted in “King of Bain,” the 28 minute mini movie created by the pro Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future. “King of Bain” documents Mr. Romney’s success at Bain Capital as being based on taking over businesses and loading them up with debt while firing their workers and eventually selling the business for record breaking profits.
The last time voters likely remember Mr. Romney flashing cash was probably a $10,000 bet he proposed to Texas Governor Rick Perry during a presidential debate in Iowa in November. The former Massachusetts governor received heightened criticism following that debate regarding his $10,000 challenge during a time when so many Americans are either unemployed or struggling to pay their bills.
According to recent polls Mr. Romney continues to be the likely favorite to win the 2012 Republican nomination.
The cash handout to Ms. Williams might seem like campaign fodder to his fellow Republican candidates, but it could be an advantage and a story he can point to as other candidates and even President Barack Obama’s campaign team continue to paint him as an elitist who is out of touch with the middle class voters that he is desperately seeking to win over.
