The New York Times continues to tear into Mitt Romney today, this time focusing on the amount of time he spent away from his duties as governor.
BOSTON — When the ceiling collapsed in the Big Dig tunnel here, Gov. Mitt Romney was at his vacation home in New Hampshire. When the Bush administration warned that the nation was at high risk of a terror attack in December 2003, he was at his Utah retreat. And for much of the time the legislature was negotiating changes to his landmark health care bill, he was on the road.
During Mr. Romney’s four-year term as governor of Massachusetts, he cumulatively spent more than a year — part or all of 417 days — out of the state, according to a review of his schedule and other records. More than 70 percent of that time was spent on personal or political trips unrelated to his job, a New York Times analysis found. [...]
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.
Mitt Romney spent approximately 1 out of every 4 days of his tenure outside of Massachusetts.
Sound familiar? George W. Bush spent literally one third of his entire two-term presidency away from his duties in Crawford, Texas. Over 1,000 days.
There's every reason to suspect Romney would continue this trend if he were elected.