The Romney apple tree
(CBS News) It's always fun to get back on the campaign trail because you always find something you didn't expect like on this Father's Day weekend, a reminder of that old saying, that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Back in 1968 when Mitt Romney's dad George was running for president, he struck a theme that would sound familiar to Romney's supporters today. He said the problem was an incumbent president - Lyndon Johnson in those days - who had made too many promises he couldn't keep.
"Big promises and little performances that barely scratch the surface, raising the hopes of people and then letting them be dashed," said George Romney.
Sound familiar? Well, like his son, George Romney also campaigned by bus and delivered a message that sounded a lot like what his son is saying today.
"We got to get this country straightened out and deal with this financial mess of inflation and crime and get it straightened out."
Then as now, of course, voters sometimes had other ideas of what the campaign should be about.
"I am here to humbly beg you to stop the killing of does and fawns in Michigan," one voter asked the governor. "You are the only one who can save our Michigan deer herd."
Romney's dad did not get the nomination, Nixon did. And as far as we know you can still find deer in Michigan.
But it just goes to show that no matter who is running, campaigns usually wind up being about most of the same things, the important and the unimportant - and in the end, the economy.
One other thing: Happy Fathers Day to all of you dads out there.
