Great news! Ann is asserting herself!

Ann: "Don't worry. Be happy." Reporting coming out of the New York Times is music to our ears. Increasingly, Ann Romney's role is expanding as she sits in on high-level strategy meetings and inserts herself into the campaign in ever-bigger ways.

She's still on the "mission" to "humanize" the Mittbot 5.0. Moreover, an aide describes her as the 'encourager in chief' for tirelessly keeping the campaign's spirits up as their titanic endeavor inches ever closer to the Nov. 6 iceberg.

Also, she's very mad that the press reports the things her husband says and does, like pissing off the Palestinians and the entire country of England.

Mrs. Romney's frustration with the popular image of her husband is at times palpable. During his trip to Europe in August, when he seemed to cast doubt on preparations for the Olympics and suggested that culture explained Palestinian economic woes, Mrs. Romney was so livid about the news media's coverage that she had to be persuaded not to walk to the back of the campaign plane to upbraid reporters, according to multiple aides.

In Iowa last week, she admonished Republicans who question her husband's strategy and performance. 'Stop it,' she said. 'This is hard.'

Internally, Mrs. Romney insists that the campaign allow Mr. Romney to be himself and that those around him provide positive reinforcement. 'Encourager in chief,' an aide calls her.

Laraine Wright, a close friend of Mrs. Romney, put it this way: 'Everyone wants to give them advice, and she said it's very nice, but Mitt is who Mitt is.'

That has led some close to the campaign to suggest that Mrs. Romney's approach might discourage constructive criticism from reaching Mr. Romney, a worry at a time when his campaign is lagging in some swing states, according to recent polls. Two Republican strategists who do not advise Mr. Romney but who are familiar with the workings of his campaign said that Mrs. Romney's defense of her husband's instincts have blunted negative ' but necessary ' feedback.

Sure. Why would Mitt need to hear any "negativity" when his polling is in free fall and he's losing virtually every swing state he needs to win? Mitt is Mitt, just let him be! Thank God he has the love of a woman to ferociously protect him from anyone that suggests he, you know, could be doing better, might want to rethink strategy, chart a different course ...

Hell no! Sally forth as you are! I guess if you just keep doing what you're doing, the voters will awaken to their folly and finally, finally see the real Mitt.

Good luck with that, Ann. Use those terrific political instincts of yours that we're all growing very fond of. Yell at some more people on the radio. Maybe you can bellow out, "Me encanta Latinos!" at your next stop in Colorado? That should help with that ethnicity gap.

Unfortunately for Ann, the problem isn't that people don't know the man she married.

It's that they do.