Mitt Romney taking a page from the Nixon playbook

Last month, Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote about Mitt Romney's campaign activity for Republican candidates around the country.The article points out Romney, rarely shy about promoting himself, is trying to stay out of the spotlight. In Ohio, for example, Romney attended a tech conference in support of then-candidate and now Senator-elect Rob Portman. Asked by a reporter about his 2012 plans, Romney replied, "I'm just working for this guy [Portman]. Let's get this guy in."
After his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election, Richard Nixon famously declared himself out of politics, only to re-emerge six years later with the Republican presidential nomination. How'd he do that? In the 1966 mid-terms, he worked hard on behalf of local candidates, particularly in the South, raising money, helping with organizations, doing the tedious work of building a network of gratitude. When he announced his candidacy for the 1968 nomination, he already had the party workers on his side. Unlike what we've typically thought of Nixon, he worked from the bottom up, rather than trying to get to his goal from the top down.
So, too, does it appear that Mitt Romney is working hard to build that network. In the bright lights of 24-7 news, it's not as easy to stay out of view. In addition, because fund-raising is now more complex, it's not surprising that campaign donations may take odd paths from donor to campaign. Nevertheless, we're not likely to see Mitt Romney speaking directly on his behalf for quite a while. That's not where nominations are won.