From our Acid Flashback desk:

First there was this item from Politico’s Playbook:

–ROMNEY TO PUSH SOFTER SIDE IN DAYS AHEAD – WSJ A4, “Romney Taps Town-Hall Connection: Public Forums Will Play Bigger Role in Shift to Show Candidate at His Best,” by Sara Murray: “The campaign has rolled out a new slogan, ‘More jobs. Less Debt. Smaller Government,’ and has given town-hall forums a more prominent slot on the schedule. Aides acknowledge these Q&As are riskier than rallies because they are harder to script, but they also provide an opportunity for voters to tease out what makes Mr. Romney tick. The campaign is looking to bring onstage the kind of empathy Mr. Romney often shows in private.”

(WSJ piece here.)

That reminded the hardworking staff of Richard Nixon’s 1968 Man in the Arena series of public appearances, which Romney also mirrored in 2007, as Roger Stone noted at the time:

Former Governor Mitt Romney recently announced a series of Town Meetings called “Ask Mitt Romney Anything” where the public, and not the media, are allowed to ask questions funneled through a panel of “Typical Americans.”

Presumably, Romney will have the good-sense to televise these encounters as well as cutting them into effective :30 & :60 second commercials.

This is a format first produced by the young Roger Ailes for Richard Nixon in 1968 called the “Man in the Arena.”

(See The Selling of the President for further details.)

To conclude:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la Mitt chose.