Mitt Romney begins a two-day fundraising swing through Texas today, including an event with very generous donors at the Dallas-area home of developer Harlan Crow.
The Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater noted that Republican presidential hopeful will get a "Texas-size sense of the American spirit" at Crow's spacious estate.
Crow is quite a collector. His personal library would rival a small college, complete with first editions on American history, several original Gilbert Stewart paintings decorating the walls and, under long glass displays, letters of famous people from Thomas Jefferson to the Wright brothers. Then there's the room mementos of the principals of World War II – on one wall, a painting by Winston Churchill, on another wall a landscape by Dwight Eisenhower and, on a third wall, two original paintings of a European city scene by Adolph Hitler.On an antique table is a signed copy of Churchill's book on fly fishing. Outside, should Romney get an opportunity to wander the grounds, is a garden of tyrants. Crow has collected busts and statues of famous dictators of the past, which he displays with a certain elan on the lawn. There's a head of Stalin, a rare statue of Fidel Castro, a towering Lenin and various other bad guys expropriated from their countries of origin.
I know the right is worked up about President Obama fundraising with Anna Wintour, but I'd say Harlan Crow's colorful collection makes tonight's event at least as interesting.
(Image: The Fund for American Studies/Flickr)