Mitt Romney formally declared his intention to run for President, launching his campaign with a full throttle attack on President Obama in New Hampshire. Romney branded Obama a failure, and touted his own ability to provide a better economic future for the nation. Romney continued to paint the picture with the broadest possible strokes, opting for optimism and Republican orthodoxy on small government and free markets as opposed to anything remotely specific. He has steadfastly managed, up to this point, to avoid getting tangled up in the problems that have befallen other Republican contenders, concentrating on raising money and building a nationwide organization. His time has been well spent, and he has to be considered the Republican front-runner based on his clear advantages in those areas. The Democrats seem to think so, as they released a video attacking Romney as he comes out of the gate. Interesting comparison of Romney’s speech to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 announcement speech by Chris Cillizza over at the Washington Post. Of course Mitt was greeted on the right by Sarah Palin, who emphasized Tea Party opposition to health care mandates, no matter at what level of government, and pointedly reminded Governor Romney that he will have a ” big challenge” to win Tea Party votes. Of course Sarah took pains to say that she was not attempting to “step on” the Romney announcement. Of course she wasn’t. Now that he is formally in Romney will eventually have to offer up some policy detail eventually. That is when some of that shine may begin to fade.