The American Spectator

p> ENTRANCE STRATEGIES br> Mitt Romney returned to Massachusetts this week a conquering hero of sorts, coming off the successful Olympics he organized in Utah. Romney, who, as The Prowler reported last week, expressed interest to President Bush about re-entering the political arena when the two were together in Salt Lake, is looking at a possible run either for the Senate in Utah or for governor in Massachusetts. /p>

In 1994, Romney’s bid for a Senate seat from Massachusetts ended in defeat at the hand of Ted Kennedy. That said, the campaign was one of Kennedy’s roughest (and it showed Ted quite able to play the anti-Mormon bigot). Romney has high name recognition in the state, and its Republican Party is looking for a way to dump acting governor Jane Swift, whose popularity numbers often slip into the teens. Romney was in Boston for a Staples corporate board meeting, and according to a Massachusetts Republican Party contributor, met privately with a number of his supporters from the 1994 campaign. “He was asking whether we’d support his run for governor,” says the donor. “He doesn’t want to come in here as a perceived Johnny Come Lately.”

But Romney told donors that he has also been speaking to the White House, and senior White House adviser Karl Rove, about his political future. “It sounded like the White House was interested in getting Mitt in and Swift out without a big nomination battle,” says the donor. “But Swift isn’t the type to go quietly, even if the White House were to give her some nice exit strategies.” Regardless, Romney clearly is high on the list of people the Bush White House wants to work with.

p> THE WHIP GETS CRACKING br> House Democrats expect that current minority leader Dick Gephardt will resign from the leadership post if his party fails, as expected, to win back the House from Republicans. Gephardt would then focus all of his energies on a presidential bid.