Romney makes final pitch before Senate primary

Talks fine line on Trump in effort to restart career

AMERICAN FORK, Utah — Mitt Romney is flashing his familiar smile at city parks and backyards in Utah’s mountains and suburbs this week, making his final pitch after being forced into a Republican Senate primary Tuesday against a conservative state lawmaker.

His opponent, state Rep. Mike Kennedy, has painted him as an outsider who can’t get along with President Donald Trump, but Romney has quieted his once-strident criticism.

“I’m not someone who’s going to be a daily commentator on everything the president says by any means, but if there’s something of significance that the president says or does, I feel a moral obligation to express my own view,” he said at a Utah restaurant where heads turned and people stopped to ask for photos.

Romney predicted Trump would win re-election in 2020. He hasn’t endorsed him, though, and declined to do so this week, saying it’s too early.

Still, Romney’s tone has changed considerably since the 2016 campaign when he called then-candidate Trump a “phony” and a “fraud.” Things change after a president is elected, Romney said, adding that he’ll get behind good policies while criticizing bad ones.

On immigration, for example, Romney said he supports strong border security including a wall, but he condemned the policy of separating families after illegal border crossings. Trump ended that practice with an executive order Wednesday after a national outcry.

“It’s a heartbreaking circumstance. It puts America in a terrible light around the world,” he said.

At 71, Romney is looking to restart his political career in Utah, where he’s a beloved adopted son known for turning around the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and for his status as the first Mormon major-party presidential candidate.

Rick Bowmer The Associated Press Mitt and Ann Romney walk Saturday in the Strawberry Day Parade in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Mitt Romney faces a GOP primary Tuesday for U.S. Senate.