The Times compiled an itinerary of Mr. Romney’s travels by analyzing the governor’s public schedules, reviewing news accounts of his travels and the responses to public records requests made during his time in office by news organizations — including The Boston Globe, The Herald and The Associated Press — that were available at the Massachusetts State Archives. The figure is probably higher than 417 days because Mr. Romney’s vacations were often not recorded on his public schedules.

Romney became known during his tenure as missing in action, with an anonymous group putting his picture on the back of a milk carton with the caption "Have You Seen Me"? The Boston Herald published a headline - "Mitt's Mass Denial". Though Ann Romney whines that Mitt took no salary as governor, his security detail and travel cost taxpayers more than $163,874.

When Romney was on the road (on the taxpayers' dime) he would often joke and complain about his difficulties with the Democratic legislature (despite the fact he brags about his skills at working in a bipartisan manner). The jabs got back to the people being jabbed at, who didn't appreciate them.



“He would make punch lines making fun of Massachusetts, and that was not widely appreciated,” said Michael J. Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed public policy group. Mr. Widmer said that while the administration focused on passing health care legislation in the second half of Mr. Romney’s term, “the rest of his agenda just went by the wayside.”

Despite the fact that his staff aide (at the time and currently) Eric Ferhnstrom and Republican legislators say Romney didn't miss anything important and was 'just a phone call away', the facts prove opposite.

The article notes that Romney was at his vacation home in New Hampshire when the ceiling collapsed in the Big Dig tunnel, killing a 38 year old woman. He was at his Utah retreat in 2003 when the Bush adminsitration warned of a high risk of a terrorist attack. And he was on the road when the legislature was negotiating changes to his landmark healthcare bill which he (sometimes) likes to take credit for.



No one points to any lapses from his absences. But some former constituents, particularly Democrats, say Mr. Romney’s travels suggest that he was more interested in attaining the governor’s post than in doing the job. They argue that his focus on his political rise limited his achievements, and they point to President Obama’s double-digit lead in polls in Massachusetts as evidence of a bad taste left by Mr. Romney’s single term.

I suppose Republicans can argue that there are no further goals for Romney to aspire to should he become President - so he wouldn't have any more distractions taking him away from presidentin'. And, he has no ranch to clear of brush.