In New Hampshire, he moved on. “For purple mountain majesties,” he
sighed, resembling The Office’s David Brent reciting the cod-philosophical
lyrics of the pop singer Des’ree. “Mount Washington and the White
Mountains qualify as purple mountain majesties,” he declared of New
Hampshire’s highest peaks.
Mr Romney, a 64-year-old former private equity boss who is often described as
robotic and struggles to connect with ordinary voters, seemed unable to find
a suitable line for South Carolina.
Yet this weekend in Florida, his favourite song returned. “O beautiful,
for spacious skies,” he told a rally near the Kennedy space centre in
Cape Canaveral. “I think that’s for the Space Coast, don’t you?”
The line met a mixture of laughs and groans that prompted Mr Romney to strike
a more self-deprecating and ironic tone.
“When I was in Iowa I used to say that corn counted as an amber wave,”
he said. “I guess that explains my 35-vote defeat there”.