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Mitt Romney's sons on 'Conan': Why so much focus on pranks?

Mitt Romney as prankster has been a campaign theme of late 鈥� and his five sons played it up again Wednesday on 'Conan.' Why this might not work for Romney, image-wise.

Mitt Romney鈥檚 five sons were on 鈥淐onan鈥� Wednesday night. That鈥檚 kind of an unusual grouping for a late-night talk show 鈥� five guests can鈥檛 fit on the requisite couch, so two sons (Ben and Matt) had to stand behind the others. But enough about the logistics. How did it go? Did Team Mittster fare OK with Team Coco?

Well, Conan O鈥橞rien himself was fairly gentle. There weren鈥檛 any jokes about "RomneyCare," dressage horses, car elevators, or family dogs strapped to the roof of a car. In that sense, we think Romney campaign officials should be pleased.

However, in a section devoted to true/false questions, Conan did ask if their dad鈥檚 hair 鈥渋s chiseled out of imported mahogany.鈥�

鈥淭hat is true,鈥� . We think it was Josh. They all look alike, which is why Conan had them wear name tags.

But we do have a question about this attempt to humanize the presumptive GOP presidential nominee via family appearance. Why the emphasis on pranks? On Father鈥檚 Day the Romney camp put out a video that emphasized Romney p猫re鈥檚 alleged penchant for playing fun on folks. That was a as well. Tagg told a story about his dad painting letters on a friend鈥檚 shoe heels at that friend鈥檚 wedding. When the friend in question kneeled for a blessing (that would make it a Roman Catholic wedding, not a Mormon one), the letters spelled 鈥淗ELP鈥� to the audience.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure they鈥檙e still friends,鈥� said Tagg. Or was it Ben?

It鈥檚 possible that the prank emphasis was Conan鈥檚 idea, but we don鈥檛 think so. It seemed like something his staff had discussed with the Romney clan in the pre-interview. The Romney sons even had tape of an incident in which they had imitated ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a phone call to their dad, who at the time was trying to land a Schwarzenegger endorsement.

Then they talked about the senior Romney鈥檚 fondness for holding up, say, butter, and asking victims to smell it to see if it had turned. Then he smashes it into their faces.

鈥淚s he going to be doing that kind of thing if he鈥檚 elected president?鈥� said Conan. 鈥溾�橫r. Bernanke, I鈥檓 worried about these figures.鈥� Then, mush!鈥�

We鈥檙e not sure talking about pranks really works for Romney, image-wise. First of all, he鈥檚 been accused of taking them too far when he was a youth, and shaving off the hair of an unwilling fellow student at Detroit鈥檚 Crankbrook School.

Second, as Conan implicitly noted, is prankstering a presidential quality? (OK, it is probably just as presidential as the ability to 鈥渟low jam鈥� the news. Which still doesn鈥檛 fully answer the question.)

Just the appearance of the obviously hearty Romney sons was perhaps a more humanizing touch for their father. No slouchers, gum-chewers, or obvious malcontents among them. Of course, they all have families of their own, so in a sense they鈥檙e past that stage. They鈥檙e not boys, as Conan noted. They鈥檙e a posse.

Holding up a photo of the entire Romney extended family, which is big enough to fill an Applebee鈥檚, Conan noted that the one touch of rebellion was Ben鈥檚 shirt, which was striped.

鈥淲hen you guys get together there鈥檚 a global khaki shortage,鈥� .