The New York Times asks whether Mitt Romney is playing it too cool, compared to his rivals:
WASHINGTON — Tim Pawlenty forged ahead on an 18-city tour across Iowa, a dawn-to-dusk schedule of courting voters. Michele Bachmann released a new television ad warning against raising the nation’s debt limit. And Gov. Rick Perry of Texas inched even closer to entering the presidential race, inviting top-shelf donors to Austin.
But where was Mitt Romney?
He arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday, getting about as far away from the budget debate in Washington — and the rest of his Republican rivals — as he could. A brief afternoon stop at a forlorn strip mall in the San Fernando Valley, where he lobbed a long-distance critique of President Obama’s economic policy, served as his sole public appearance of the week.
The rest here.