Romney likes peanut butter, pancakes and Costco @politicohttp://politi.co/Nvnmos
POLITICO Peanut butter, pancakes and Costco
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN | 8/26/12 2:14 PM EDT
Mitt Romney munched peanut butter-coated pancakes and saluted Costco’s dress shirts in a television interview aired Sunday aimed at showing the Republican presidential candidate’s softer side.
Facing a likability gap against President Barack Obama heading into the Republican National Convention, Romney opened up his New Hampshire summer lake home to the cameras of “Fox News Sunday” offering an up-close look at how he spends his time when he’s not on the campaign trail.
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The segment opened with Mitt Romney cooking pancakes using his wife Ann’s recipe.
“It’s a little early. I’m just taking a look. I’m just going to do it anyway,” Mitt Romney said as he flipped the flapjacks.
Serving up pancakes to “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, Ann Romney offered the journalist a choice between syrups from New Hampshire and Vermont.
“But Vermont isn’t a swing state,” Wallace joked.
“But New Hampshire is,” Ann Romney replied.
Mitt Romney, meantime, went to a cabinet to fetch one of his favorite snack foods.
“Are you putting butter, peanut butter, on my buttermilk pancakes?” Ann Romney asked.
“I’m not going to put them on Chris’s, don’t worry, honey,” Mitt Romney replied as he spread peanut butter on his pancakes and dug in.
“That is sacrilege,” Ann Romney said.
Sitting for an interview in their family library, Mitt and Ann Romney answered several more questions to lift the curtain on their personal lives. Mitt Romney said he does go to the grocery store, and Ann recalled how her husband often did the shopping when they were living in Utah as he ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“When I was really, really sick — and this is where I think people need to understand where Mitt comes from. I was unable to do anything that any in — in a normal life. I couldn’t go to the grocery store. I couldn’t cook dinner or anything,” Ann Romney said.
Wallace also said he noticed that he hadn’t seen any cooks or maids at the Romney’s summer home.
“You know, Mitt and I are pretty independent,” Ann Romney replied. “That’s how we like it. We like to do our own things. I think Mitt ironed his own shirt this morning. I noticed he was doing the laundry last night.”
The Romneys also described their admiration for Costco: “It’s got great produce,” Mitt Romney said, adding that his wife recently bought him a three-pack of Kirkland shirts from the discount warehouse.
“They’re very nice shirts,” Mitt Romney said.
“I know how to shop Costco,” Ann Romney said. “You go in the door. I don’t want everyone to learn this trick. You go in the door. You take a sharp right. And you go way down to the back of the store and just go, just shop the outside of the aisles, boom, boom, boom.”
The Romneys’ interview on “Fox News Sunday” was one of several attempts by the Republican’s campaign to show his personal side ahead of the GOP convention this week in Tampa. A Mitt Romney interview published Sunday in Parade magazine described his donations to the Mormon church as one of the reasons he’s been reluctant to disclose more than two years of his personal tax returns.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80158.html#ixzz24g8eMJRs
