Romney in Chicago to stumps for Rutherford

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked about President Barack Obama's job performance and Chicago's chances for the Olympics during a stop in Illinois Tuesday to stump for a prospective state treasurer candidate.

Romney said he likes that Obama is being tough in Afghanistan and he applauded the president's get-tough talk to struggling automakers. But Romney was less enthusiastic about how the stimulus package has turned out and he called the Democratic president's budget talk "really quite alarming.

"So some things well, some things not so well and I think it's incumbent on us to say 'nice job' on the things he does well and to point out the places where we disagree," Romney said.

Romney was in Chicago Tuesday to raise money for state Sen. Dan Rutherford, his former Illinois campaign chairman and a Chenoa Republican who plans to announce in the coming weeks that he'll form an exploratory committee to look at a run for state treasurer.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is re-emerging on the national scene after his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and building toward another possible White House run in 2012.

While Romney said he's keeping a low-profile now, he plans to be busy helping get Republicans elected in 2010. As for another White House bid, he said: "The horizon is just too far off to be able to estimate what I'll be doing."

Romney plans to be visible in Illinois, a state with no statewide elected Republican officials that's recovering from the corruption scandal surrounding former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rutherford said Romney planned to meet with state party officials while he was in town.

"We appreciate, governor, you being back here," Rutherford said.

But Romney's visit wasn't all politics. The former Olympics chief, who rescued the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, also had some encouraging words about Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

"I think Chicago's going to get it," Romney said.

The International Olympic Committee will pick the host city in October and an evaluation team is due in town this week for an inspection tour. Chicago is a finalist along with Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.