Hartsburg wants to look more like his pre-tattoo days. | Courtesy Platinum Wrestling/Walter Tyskie Romney tattoo man does about-face

Critics of Mitt Romney accused him of being a flip-flopper. Now one of his die-hard supporters is guilty of the same charge.

Eric Hartsburg, the 30-year-old resident of Michigan City, Ind., inked the Romney/Ryan campaign’s distinctive “R” logo on his face this fall to support the Republican ticket. Hartsburg put the space on his face up for sale on eBay and was paid $5,000 to get the 5-by-2-inch tattoo. After the Romney-Paul Ryan ticket lost on Nov. 6, Hartsburg had no regrets, telling POLITICO he was “glad to know that I did all that I could” and insisting he would never have the tat removed.


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But he’s had a change of heart.

Hartsburg tells POLITICO he plans to get the tattoo lasered off, a process that could take a year.

Tattoo removal chain Dr. TATTOFF offered to remove it for free, an offer Hartsburg originally rejected, telling POLITICO earlier this month, “I still love the ink and I am a man of my word and will keep the tattoo for life.”

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But then he heard some of Romney’s post-election comments, most notably his claim that the president won reelection because of “gifts” given to various constituencies.

“It stands not only for a losing campaign but for a sore loser,” Hartsburg said. “He’s pretty shameful as far as I’m concerned, man. There’s no dignity in blaming somebody else for buying votes and paying off people. I can’t get behind that or stay behind that.”

As a result, Hartsburg changed his mind and decided to accept Dr. TATTOFF’s offer. Next week, Hartsburg will fly to Los Angeles for the first tattoo removal session, which will be led by Will Kirby, who is known for his appearances on reality shows such as “Big Brother” and “Dr. 90210.” Dr. TATTOFF will pay for the removal, which normally runs about $1,000.

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“You can’t walk around with a big ‘R’ on your face!” said Kirby of the tattoo, which presents challenges and opportunities. Fortunately, it’s on the face, and tattoos above the heart tend to be easier to remove because of increased bloodflow, as opposed to ankles or feet. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of blue ink, one of the more difficult colors to erase.

Each session is quick — “maybe 60 to 90 seconds” — and then requires eight weeks between sessions for the skin to heal.

“I’m estimating that he’s probably going to need about seven to 10 sessions,” Kirby said. “It’s going to take the better part of a year.”

And it hurts, said Kirby, “but my understanding is that he has a good threshold for pain.”

The lengthy process will give Hartsburg plenty of time to — believe it or not — think about doing it again. While he said, “I’m probably done with political tattoos,” he’s hardly ruling it out, admitting the publicity and cash are alluring.

“After it’s off, I’ll put the space back up for sale, but I might be a little bit more choosy about political tattooing,” Hartsburg said. “But things can change, you know?”

“We’ll see in four years what the election brings and what candidates come along,” he said, joking that if Marco Rubio runs in 2016, perhaps the “R” tattoo could enjoy a second life. Or maybe he’ll just switch to a less permanent way of supporting Republicans.

“Everybody keeps telling me to just put a sign in my yard instead of a tattoo on my face,” he said.

Hartsburg admits the attention has been nice, including plugs from Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman.

“Hopefully, now that I’ve gotten my foot in the door, hopefully I can take advantage of it as much as I can,” Hartsburg said. His day job is as a wrestler and he said he’s scored a fight next year with former baseball star Jose Canseco. He worries, however, that getting the tattoo removed could hurt his wrestling career.

“With the tattoo gone, you can’t say, ‘Hey look, it’s the Romney face tattoo guy from TV,’” Hartsburg said. “I’ll still be that guy, but the tattoo’s gone, so some of the allure might be lost.”

For his part, Kirby said he hasn’t seen a lot of people like Hartsburg come through his doors.

“We see tribal armbands, a lot of ex-lovers’ names, a smattering of college and professional sports teams, but we don’t typically see a lot of political tattoos,” he said. “I think the core demographic who have tattoos are not necessarily people who are that passionate about politics.”

But if you are so inclined, Kirby has some basic advice.

“Get it in black. It’s the easiest to remove.”