TAMPA, Fla. — Chris Healy has been collecting political pins since he was 11, including this little piece of history from George Romney’s failed 1968 presidential campaign pinned to the lapel of Healy’s seersucker suit.
The elder Romney was the governor of Michigan and entered the GOP nominating race as the frontrunner, only to falter and ultimately withdraw.
“I was a Nixon guy, still am,” said Healy, 54, the former Connecticut GOP chairman.
Healy, who is from Wethersfield, said Romney had a distinguished record as governor.
“He had to deal with riots in Detroit,” he said.
A mail boy for Nixon’s campaign back then, Healy is down at the Republican National Convention, though not as an official member of the Connecticut delegation.
Seeing Mitt Romney accept the GOP nomination is a trip for Healy.
“So he comes from good stock and he’s got the hair, very important,” Healy said.