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When Mitt Romney's aides told him last month that the main reason they were skipping Sen. Jim DeMint's Labor Day forum was that he had already committed to attend an event in New Hampshire that day, the candidate was not pleased.

"So you're telling me the reason we’re not doing this is logistical?" Romney asked, according to one aide. "That's not good. We're going to the DeMint forum. Make it so."

In addition to the New Hampshire stop, Romney had a flight scheduled later on Labor Day to Nevada for the unveiling of his jobs plan, and aides were leery of overloading him with an event in another corner of the country -- and in South Carolina, no less, which has not figured significantly in his campaign’s strategy.

But Mitt Romney has never been the kind of candidate who’s especially concerned about the negative repercussions of doing too much.

And so just after the sun rose on Sept. 5, Romney’s bags were already waiting on the front step of his Belmont, Mass., home when director of operations Will Ritter arrived to pick him up. It was 6:45 a.m. His day would end at 11 p.m. in Colorado, since the private campaign jet did not have enough fuel to make it all the way to Nevada without a layover.

Presidential campaigns are not endeavors that treat laziness kindly, and all of the Republican contenders have packed and demanding schedules.

But over the course of his last White House run and through the first few months of this one, Romney has proven himself to be a particularly hardworking campaigner who never seems to lose focus, no matter the hour of the day. This tirelessness is a potentially significant asset that could pay major dividends as the candidates’ already taxing days become even more arduous.

“He’s the kind of guy who will see a hole in the schedule and instead of thinking ‘long lunch,’ he thinks of doing a campaign headquarters stop-by or a radio interview,” Ritter, who has been a fixture at Romney’s side since 2006, told RCP. “He can’t be stopped, and you almost have to trick him into not doing as much.”

Romney is often criticized for lacking an ease with everyday interactions, a quality that has made Rick Perry such a formidable retail campaigner. While many Romney aides dispute the notion that he doesn’t relate well to voters, there is little doubt that connecting on a human level is not one of his stronger assets.

But Romney has an often overlooked ability to impress voters simply by being “on” at every moment. In this sense, being a bit robotic can have its advantages.

“I still marvel at the energy he has,” said Kevin Madden, Romney’s 2008 national press secretary who remains in frequent contact with the candidate’s top aides. “When I worked on that campaign in 2008, I was 34 years old and I couldn’t keep up with him. I would need half a pot of coffee in the morning, and I was dragging by night. I lost my temper once or twice a day, but I saw him lose his maybe once or twice throughout the whole campaign.”