On Romney Air—

Ron Kaufman that is. . After what will forever be known as the potted plant incident we didn’t think we would see Ron again. But, there he was walking onto the Romney plane announcing, “The potted plant is here!” Kaufman is a senior advisor to the campaign and lobbyist extraordinaire, not to mention a constant source of entertainment. And he just couldn’t stay away from his beloved press corps and of course the Romney campaign.

He let me know what he was doing when he wasn’t on the campaign trail and what he thought of the testy back and forth saying it’s, “Part of the game. It didn’t bother me in the least.”

Kaufman said the campaign is looking forward to the 22 contests coming up on Super Tuesday. He said that the loss last night had a lot to do with the Mel Martinez and Charlie Crist endorsements along with McCain accusing Romney of calling for a timetable for troop withdrawal in Iraq. He said in the short term that hurt Romney even though the governor denied it and the media has been proven it to be an unfair claim. In the long term, Kaufman thinks the claim could hurt McCain.

Click here to see the return of Ron!

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**UPDATE**

Check out Glen Johnson’s take on what happened:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jKsPiM8YW32h21HRebuncfg3jZcAD8U7VMI80

Here’s a sample from the story:

Romney distinguished between that type of work and the work of paid influence-peddlers.

“I haven’t been in Washington,” he said. “I don’t have lobbyists at my elbows that are arguing for one industry or another industry, and I do not have favors I have to repay to people who have been in Washington for years nor scores I have to settle.”

Records filed with the Senate say that in 2007, Kaufman was personally listed as the lobbyist for New Balance Athletic Shoe, HNTB COS, American Pacific Corp., Worcester Business Development Corp., County of Los Angeles, State of Utah, CNS Inc., Americans for Democracy, West Orem Group, Globalcast LLC, and Global Demandwidth.

One of Dutko’s clients is Citgo Petroleum Corp., the Venezuela-owned oil compnay. Since 1998, Citgo has paid Dutko $3 million in lobbying fees.

In its last report, mid-year of 2007, Dutko reported a $175,000 payment from Citgo.

Columbia, SC–

Governor Romney had a heated exchange with an Associated Press reporter at a media availability this morning. Romney has been campaigning in Michigan and now South Carolina on the message of a “Broken Washington.” He has been saying that in his administration there would be no “score settling” or debts owed because he comes to Washington as an outsider. He also often rails against Washington’s ties to lobbyists and how his administration would be different. Today, Associated Press Reporter Glen Johnson called out the presidential hopeful on it and Romney was none too happy. It all started when Romney answered a reporter’s question and began to rail against Washington:

“I think it’s time for Washington, Republican and Democrat, to have a leader who will fight to make sure we resolve the issues rather than continuously look for partisan opportunities for score settling and for opportunities to link closer to lobbyists. I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign. . .”

Johnson: “That’s not true governor. That is not true. Ron Kaufman is a lobbyist.”

Romney: “Did you hear what I said? Did you hear what I said, Glen? I said I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign, and he’s not running my campaign.”

Johnson: “He’s a senior advisor.”

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Ron Kaufman is a well-known Washington lobbyist who worked on George H.W. Bush’s campaign. He is by Romney’s side most days on the trail and only left 2 days ago to return to Washington. He was expected back soon, no word if that will change.

The back and forth continued for a while and got increasingly heated. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s press secretary abruptly ended the press conference and Romney and Johnson continued to argue with Romney saying he would talk to Johnson later.