Floods Give Romney Chance to Play up Leadership Role Nationally

"For Gov. Mitt Romney, the flooding of 2006 is turning out to be a kind of mini-Katrina, a chance to show the state -- and voters far from Massachusetts -- that when it comes to handling a natural disaster, he's no slouch.

And no President Bush."

Indeed, this may shape up to be a campaign where the GOP candidates spend a lot of time distancing themselves from the prior candidate, much like Al Gore tried to distance himself from Clinton a bit in 2000.