With Rich Donors, a More Candid Romney Emerges LAS VEGAS - In Chicago, Mitt Romney regaled wealthy donors with a boyhood memory of volunteering to clean up a litter-strewn football field, the kind of humanizing tale he typically avoids on the campaign trail. In Palm Beach, Fla., he walked contributors through a list of the federal agencies he planned to shut down or combine, a level of specificity he had not offered to voters. At a fund-raiser in Wilson, Wyo., he heaped praise on former Vice President Dick Cheney, aligning himself with an unpopular Republican presidency in a way he is loath to do in public. With their unvarnished tone and political candor, Mr. Romney's secretly recorded comments to donors in Boca Raton, Fla. - in which he said 47 percent of Americans are dependent on government handouts and do not pay income taxes - seemed jarring and unusual to those who have digested a year's worth of his public statements. They suggest the possibility of two Romneys: the careful candidate behind the lectern at a rally, and the blunt man behind closed doors with Republican contributors. Mr. Romney has disputed that characterization, arguing that his vision and values are consistent no matter who is in the audience. "You're coming to my fund-raiser and this is the same message that I give to people, which is that we have a very different approach, the president and I," he told reporters after the video began circulating. There is much overlap between what he says to both groups. But a review of his remarks at dozens of fund-raisers, in well-off neighborhoods from Los Angeles to Miami over the past year, highlights differences both subtle and significant in how he speaks to voters and donors, the two most important constituencies in his bid for the White House. Presidential candidates have always tailored their messages: the speech delivered to oil workers may vary from one to religious leaders. But this year, a single group - wealthy donors - has consumed time and energy as never before, creating an almost parallel campaign with its own rhythm, format and sometimes even message. By opting out of the federal campaign finance system, both Mr. Romney and President Obama have committed themselves to a relentless financial race that means holding more fund-raisers than public campaign events. Over the past seven days, Mr. Romney attended 11 fund-raisers, compared with five publicized events open to the public; Mr. Obama went to six fund-raisers and just five rallies. Both Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama hold fund-raisers that are closed to the news media, but they frequently allow reporters to record their introductory speeches. And details of their remarks during confidential question-and-answer sessions occasionally leak out. After an embarrassing fund-raising episode four years ago during which Mr. Obama mused about working-class voters who "cling to guns or religion," he seems to hew to his standard stump speech, even behind closed doors. And unlike at Mr. Romney's events, all cellphones and cameras are now left at the door. But Mr. Obama, too, modifies how he talks to certain groups. In front of wealthy contributors, he often tones down or leaves out the jabs about Mr. Romney's "personal success." Mr. Romney also recites many of the same lines to donors and voters. But the intimacy of the receptions (at homes and hotels), their transactional nature ($75,000 per couple is often pledged) and familiarity with that audience (usually filled with fellow businessmen and -women), appears to put Mr. Romney at ease. He uses looser language, divulges strategy, tells detailed personal stories and takes pointed questions. At one fund-raiser, Mr. Romney said the "president wants to make this a race about attacking rich people," a harsher construction than normal. At another, the candidate, who usually celebrates Americans" can-do spirit, observed that "a lot of people feel extraordinarily complacent, as if this will always have to be like this." Mr. Romney acknowledged last week that donors, like investors in a company, want different information than the general public, which he tries to give them. "That's something which fund-raising people who are parting with their monies are very interested in knowing: can you win or not?" he said. Peter Baker contributed reporting from Washington.