Romney on campaign
Romney on campaign, While the other GOP candidates were hustling for votes in New Hampshire, the man who’s the heavy favorite to win next Tuesday’s primary was here, already campaigning past it.
For Mitt Romney, it’s a play on multiple fronts: he’s exhibiting confidence for his chances back in the Granite State, an organizational ability from his campaign to operate in two states at once and a chance to get a running start in a state that’s not a natural fit for him but has a history of anointing GOP nominees......politico.
And it was a chance to demonstrate the breadth of support: Romney took the stage at a Lowcountry rally with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and 2008 GOP nominee John McCain, both of whom have endorsed him.
Romney attacked President Barack Obama as a “crony capitalist,” adopting one of the signature lines from Michele Bachmann, who Wednesday morning dropped out of the race after a sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He’d unveiled the line Thursday morning at a town hall in Salem, N.H., but pressed it again here to a crowd of more than 400.
He linked it to an issue with local appeal, blasting Obama for his three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board — an entity that’s been vilified in the state for legal action against Boeing, which has a plant in the state.
“I think this president believes in something that some call ‘crony capitalism,’ that instead of free enterprise choosing the winners and losers, instead the government — and particularly the people in power — will choose the people they want to give special favors to. And you’ve seen that in this presidency. You just saw it yesterday, the president appoint people to the National Labor Relations Board without the confirmation of the Senate as a political payback to his friends,” he said.
And in an attack primed for South Carolina’s tea party friendly, anti-government spending Republican base, McCain joined the attack, blasting the earmarks record of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — seen as a potential problem for Romney in the state because of his appeal to social conservatives.
Sen. Santorum and I had a strong disagreement, a strong disagreement that he believed that earmarks and pork barrel projects were good for America. I think it’s wrong for America, and so does Sen. [Jim] DeMint, and so does Sen. Lindsey Graham, who have been staunch fighters against earmarks and pork barrel spending, and I know you’re proud of them,” McCain said Thursday.
Speaking with reporters following the rally, Haley said she thinks Republican voters should make their choice between candidates who have Beltway experience and those who don’t.
“I don’t feel like I have to put any candidates down to make Gov. Romney look good. I know I want someone who has nothing to do with Washington. Everything about Washington is chaos, and I don’t want us to have any part of it,” she said.
Haley also beat back the concern that Romney will face resistance campaigning in a heavily evangelical Southern state as a Mormon from Massachusetts.
“This is the state that elected a 38-year-old Indian female. No, I’m not worried about that at all,” she said.
No Republican presidential candidate has ever won both Iowa and New Hampshire, something Romney is now set to do. Though he split his time Thursday between South Carolina and New Hampshire, advisers remained openly confident that it would not hamper his chances — and in fact proves they’re good.
“We are in a position here, and without being anything other than accurate, the polling data suggests that people in the state know Mitt Romney, they like Mitt Romney and they are prepared to vote for Mitt Romney,” said Tom Rath, a Romney adviser in New Hampshire, after Romney’s town hall in Salem on Thursday morning. “We are in a position, I respect other candidates but our job is to concentrate on blocking and tackling and turning out our vote. I am convinced if we do as a campaign what we need to do, we’re going to do well on Tuesday. We are in an admirable position that’s taken us only about seven years to get to, where we’re in control of our own destiny here. We should win.”
For Mitt Romney, it’s a play on multiple fronts: he’s exhibiting confidence for his chances back in the Granite State, an organizational ability from his campaign to operate in two states at once and a chance to get a running start in a state that’s not a natural fit for him but has a history of anointing GOP nominees......politico.
And it was a chance to demonstrate the breadth of support: Romney took the stage at a Lowcountry rally with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and 2008 GOP nominee John McCain, both of whom have endorsed him.
Romney attacked President Barack Obama as a “crony capitalist,” adopting one of the signature lines from Michele Bachmann, who Wednesday morning dropped out of the race after a sixth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. He’d unveiled the line Thursday morning at a town hall in Salem, N.H., but pressed it again here to a crowd of more than 400.
He linked it to an issue with local appeal, blasting Obama for his three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board — an entity that’s been vilified in the state for legal action against Boeing, which has a plant in the state.
“I think this president believes in something that some call ‘crony capitalism,’ that instead of free enterprise choosing the winners and losers, instead the government — and particularly the people in power — will choose the people they want to give special favors to. And you’ve seen that in this presidency. You just saw it yesterday, the president appoint people to the National Labor Relations Board without the confirmation of the Senate as a political payback to his friends,” he said.
And in an attack primed for South Carolina’s tea party friendly, anti-government spending Republican base, McCain joined the attack, blasting the earmarks record of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — seen as a potential problem for Romney in the state because of his appeal to social conservatives.
Sen. Santorum and I had a strong disagreement, a strong disagreement that he believed that earmarks and pork barrel projects were good for America. I think it’s wrong for America, and so does Sen. [Jim] DeMint, and so does Sen. Lindsey Graham, who have been staunch fighters against earmarks and pork barrel spending, and I know you’re proud of them,” McCain said Thursday.
Speaking with reporters following the rally, Haley said she thinks Republican voters should make their choice between candidates who have Beltway experience and those who don’t.
“I don’t feel like I have to put any candidates down to make Gov. Romney look good. I know I want someone who has nothing to do with Washington. Everything about Washington is chaos, and I don’t want us to have any part of it,” she said.
Haley also beat back the concern that Romney will face resistance campaigning in a heavily evangelical Southern state as a Mormon from Massachusetts.
“This is the state that elected a 38-year-old Indian female. No, I’m not worried about that at all,” she said.
No Republican presidential candidate has ever won both Iowa and New Hampshire, something Romney is now set to do. Though he split his time Thursday between South Carolina and New Hampshire, advisers remained openly confident that it would not hamper his chances — and in fact proves they’re good.
“We are in a position here, and without being anything other than accurate, the polling data suggests that people in the state know Mitt Romney, they like Mitt Romney and they are prepared to vote for Mitt Romney,” said Tom Rath, a Romney adviser in New Hampshire, after Romney’s town hall in Salem on Thursday morning. “We are in a position, I respect other candidates but our job is to concentrate on blocking and tackling and turning out our vote. I am convinced if we do as a campaign what we need to do, we’re going to do well on Tuesday. We are in an admirable position that’s taken us only about seven years to get to, where we’re in control of our own destiny here. We should win.”
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment