Last week I wrote that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) underwhelmed the audience during an appearance at a recent conservative gathering in Washington.

Well, now he’s two-for-two.

On Tuesday, Romney formally announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for president.

His announcement, like most such announcements, was a photo-op, since we’ve all known for a long time that Romney was running.

But a photo-op is still important — it’s a way for Romney to introduce himself to voters other than those he has been courting in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

So how did Romney choose to introduce himself?

At the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. No problem there, since Romney wanted to emphasize his Michigan roots and since Michigan played an important role in the 2000 Republican primaries and might do so again in 2008.

But at the museum, Romney positioned himself at a lectern, squarely in front of the following: a new Ford hybrid SUV, a 1960s vintage Rambler, and a DC-3 airplane.

Huh? The SUV, Romney explained in his speech, represented “the first giant step away from our reliance on the gasoline engine.”

The Rambler — “the first American car designed and marketed for economy and mileage” — was the work of his father, George Romney, when he was an auto executive. 

And the DC-3 was “the first true commercial airliner.”

“I chose this site for a number of reasons,” Romney told the crowd. “It’s filled with cars and memories.”

Romney’s rollout came on the heels of a more skillfully handled show, the presidential announcement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

Standing in front of the old statehouse in Springfield, Ill., Obama sought to lay the mantle of Lincoln on himself.

That was a little ridiculous, but the pictures were great — no Ramblers in sight.

Now, I don’t put much store in the protests of some who said that Romney should not have held his event at a museum devoted to Henry Ford because of Ford’s well-known anti-Semitism.

While we don’t approve of the faults of historical figures, we can still celebrate their historical accomplishments.

No, Romney’s problem at the Ford Museum was poor showmanship.

And the message was a little strange, as well; even though it’s a fine issue, to this point Romney has not been known as the energy-independence candidate.

Add to that what looked like a little too much modesty — the only written message in the whole picture was a discreet MittRomney.com sign on the front of the lectern — and you have an event that, as a news picture, just didn’t work.

It’s not the first off-key announcement we’ve had this year.

Democrat John Edwards went to the Ninth Ward of New Orleans to make his big announcement.

There was no lectern, no flags, no music, not much of a crowd — pretty much nothing except Edwards, in jeans, standing on a lawn, speaking to reporters through a wireless microphone pinned to his blue work shirt.

That didn’t work, either.

So here’s some advice to those candidates who have not yet formally announced their run for the White House:

Tradition works. Use lots of flags, bunting, campaign signs, music, and a big crowd.

You won’t regret it.

York is a White House correspondent for National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week.

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