Romney Faces Hecklers and Hostility
By Gregory W. Wallace (gww@primaryinsider.com)
LEBANON, N.H.—He started the day sailing smoothly, atop the presidential field with New Hampshire nearly to himself.
By his last event of the day—a town hall meeting on the upstate border with Vermont—Mitt Romney was faring decidedly rougher seas.
First came today’s national Gallup poll, which downgraded Mr. Romney from frontrunner to trailing the race’s newest entrant, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, by 12 points.
Mr. Romney took this in stride when speaking with reporters this afternoon in Claremont. Asked if he sees himself as the frontrunner, he called himself “just one of the guys running” and made light of the horserace coverage: “Do your very best. You’re going to try to find something distinct. I had a dark shirt on today, a light shirt yesterday.”
Then, Mr. Romney arrived in Lebanon.
No sooner had he finished his remarks and opened the floor to questions than the hostilities came forth. Mr. Romney lobbed back, but, to his credit, he handled each of the questions.
He was quizzed—with great fervor—on his vision for Social Security and Medicare. “Who told you that?” he asked the questioner in reply, “that I or any other Republican planned on cutting Social Secutiy benefits? Where did you hear that?”
He was interrogated with his past comments on global warming. (Mr. Romney said the quote was right, but that the questioner was misrepresenting his words). He was challenged about a million-dollar donation to a pro-Romney P.A.C. which turned out to be from a former business associate.
And shouts of “Romneycare” came from the back of the room.
To his aid came dozens of supporters in the room who responded to his applause lines—and one audience member who, well, heckled the heckler. When one woman took Mr. Romney to task for proposing an “irresponsible” balanced budget amendment, another audience member took her to task, too. “Excuse me, we’re nice here in Lebanon,” she said.
Amidst the fray, Mr. Romney managed to keep his cool, aiming his cannons at President Barack Obama on several occasions, defending his record in Massachusetts, and greeting hostility with his own brand of humor. “You’re not the boss of me, as my kids used to say to me,” he told one questioner who he said misrepresented the candidate’s remarks, to laughter.
The candidate’s first campaign stop of the day—another town hall—had begun six hours earlier. At the Keene town hall meeting, Mr. Romney stood in front of a wall painted as Fenway’s Green Monster, delivering his best jokes and mixing comfortably with mostly-older crowd. Eighty three year-old Lucy Opal of Swanzey was so anxious to have the candidate sign her autograph book that she left her front row seat and stood at the candidate’s side before he was finished speaking.
“Ok, Lucy, I’ll sign this in just a moment,” Mr. Romney said, interrupting his closing. “She’s going to be the first one in the row here to get this signed. Look at this, she’s got my dad’s signature. That’s my dad, I recognize that.”
Ms. Opal, a polish immigrant, clutched the two leather-bound books of handwritten notes. George Romney’s 1969 signature was not the first.
“I have lots of presidents in this book right here,” Ms. Opal, said.
“I’ll give you one more, but time will tell,” Mr. Romney replied.
For more, visit us on twitter.com/primaryinsider.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Right-To-Work Belongs at State Level, Romney Says
By Gregory W. Wallace
CLAREMONT, N.H.--Legislation limiting the ability of unions to close shops to non-union members should be considered at the state level, Mitt Romney said here on Wednesday.
"I am overwhelmingly in favor of Right-To-Work legislation," Mr. Romney said. "I believe that Right-To-Work is the right approach and at our current stage we're doing that on a state-by-state basis."
Supporting Right-To-Work legislation has become a right of passage for the Republican presidential hopefuls here after the Republican-controlled state legislature passed, and Democratic governor, vetoed such a law.
Mr. Romney supports deferring to the state level decisions on programs like Medicaid, and he said while Right-To-Work should be settled at the state level, he would support a federal law were it advanced.
"If there were to be a federal right to work law that reached my desk, I would be in support of it but the right approach is a state-by-state approach," he said.
"I'd like to see the states be the place where we carry out this successfully," Mr. Romney said.
CLAREMONT, N.H.--Legislation limiting the ability of unions to close shops to non-union members should be considered at the state level, Mitt Romney said here on Wednesday.
"I am overwhelmingly in favor of Right-To-Work legislation," Mr. Romney said. "I believe that Right-To-Work is the right approach and at our current stage we're doing that on a state-by-state basis."
Supporting Right-To-Work legislation has become a right of passage for the Republican presidential hopefuls here after the Republican-controlled state legislature passed, and Democratic governor, vetoed such a law.
Mr. Romney supports deferring to the state level decisions on programs like Medicaid, and he said while Right-To-Work should be settled at the state level, he would support a federal law were it advanced.
"If there were to be a federal right to work law that reached my desk, I would be in support of it but the right approach is a state-by-state approach," he said.
"I'd like to see the states be the place where we carry out this successfully," Mr. Romney said.
Corporations Are Made Up of People, Romney Says
By Gregory W. Wallace (gww@primaryinsider.com)
KEENE, N.H.—On the stump, Mitt Romney makes an unapologetic case for his 25 years of business experience.
On Wednesday, he made his defense here for a statement in Iowa which attracted much attention, that “Corporations are people.”
He was heckled in Iowa while offering his proposal for entitlement program solvency, but today was answering a friendly question, what would he do immediately to turn around the economy?
One step, he said, would be to draw businesses back to the United States by reforming tax policies.
“We’re not looking to punish businesses. We’re looking to make sre that they pay their fair share competitively with other nations,” he said.
“And I made that point the other day: corporations, they’re made up of people,” he continued. “They’re just groups of people that come together for work and when you say, ‘tax corporations,’ the steel and the vinyl and the concrete those things don’t pay taxes. Only people do. So high taxes on corporations is high taxes on people. And people are going to go places where taxes are nott too high. So we’ve got to be competitive with other nations.”
Mr. Romney found the friendly audience of almost 150 people in the Keene Recreation Center. The wall behind him was painted as Fenway’s famed Green Monster, and Mr. Romney recalled his days as governor of the state to the south.
New Hampshire, he said, drew businesses north from Massachusetts. As president, he wants to win jobs from other countries.
“I want to make this the most attractive place in the world to start a business, to grow a business, to hire people,” he said. “I know how to do that because I’ve done it. I haven’t just watched other people do it. I’ve actually done it for 25 years and I want to use that experience to get Americans back to work.”
KEENE, N.H.—On the stump, Mitt Romney makes an unapologetic case for his 25 years of business experience.
On Wednesday, he made his defense here for a statement in Iowa which attracted much attention, that “Corporations are people.”
He was heckled in Iowa while offering his proposal for entitlement program solvency, but today was answering a friendly question, what would he do immediately to turn around the economy?
One step, he said, would be to draw businesses back to the United States by reforming tax policies.
“We’re not looking to punish businesses. We’re looking to make sre that they pay their fair share competitively with other nations,” he said.
“And I made that point the other day: corporations, they’re made up of people,” he continued. “They’re just groups of people that come together for work and when you say, ‘tax corporations,’ the steel and the vinyl and the concrete those things don’t pay taxes. Only people do. So high taxes on corporations is high taxes on people. And people are going to go places where taxes are nott too high. So we’ve got to be competitive with other nations.”
Mr. Romney found the friendly audience of almost 150 people in the Keene Recreation Center. The wall behind him was painted as Fenway’s famed Green Monster, and Mr. Romney recalled his days as governor of the state to the south.
New Hampshire, he said, drew businesses north from Massachusetts. As president, he wants to win jobs from other countries.
“I want to make this the most attractive place in the world to start a business, to grow a business, to hire people,” he said. “I know how to do that because I’ve done it. I haven’t just watched other people do it. I’ve actually done it for 25 years and I want to use that experience to get Americans back to work.”
Romney Gains Endorsement of Former State Senate President
By Gregory W. Wallace (gww@primaryinsider.com)
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be joined today on the stump and endorsed by a former president of the state senate, Tom R. Eaton, Politico’s James Hohmann reports.
Mr. Eaton, who endorsed Mr. Romney in the 2008 campaign, will introduce the candidate at a Keene town hall meeting this morning.
The Romney campaign previews today’s message with a new web video supporting Right-To-Work legislation in the Granite State.
The video features the New Hampshire businessman Fred Kfoury Jr., who might as well be a stop enroute to the New Hampshire primary and supports the legislation, which would prohibit closed, union-only shops in the state.
“We live in the Live Free or Die state and they can damn well choose whether they want to join an organization or not join an organization,” Mr. Kfoury says of employees and unions.
Right-To-Work legislation passed both chambers of the state legislature this spring, but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Lynch. Though the Senate passed the measure by a veto-proof two-thirds majority, an override in the Republican-led House would seem to fall short.
Support of an override has been an applause line for New Hampshire Republican audiences this season. Texas Gov. Rick Perry mentioned an override on both New Hampshire visits last week, and former Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. wrote a Union Leader op-ed this month on Right-to-Work. Mr. Romney, too, regularly makes the case on the stump.
“Those states which have found ways to balance the rights and needs of people with the rights and needs of employers—states which have right to work laws—have out performed those that don’t,” Mr. Romney told the Manchester Rotary on Aug. 8. “Right-To-Work states, of which there are twenty two, have added three million jobs in the last ten years, whereas states which don’t have right to work have lost a million jobs.
“There’s no question in my view what would help New Hampshire in its quest to have more good jobs,” he continued. “One of those elements would be to have right to work legislation.”
Mr. Eaton's introduction, From Politico’s Morning Score:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be joined today on the stump and endorsed by a former president of the state senate, Tom R. Eaton, Politico’s James Hohmann reports.
Mr. Eaton, who endorsed Mr. Romney in the 2008 campaign, will introduce the candidate at a Keene town hall meeting this morning.
The Romney campaign previews today’s message with a new web video supporting Right-To-Work legislation in the Granite State.
The video features the New Hampshire businessman Fred Kfoury Jr., who might as well be a stop enroute to the New Hampshire primary and supports the legislation, which would prohibit closed, union-only shops in the state.
“We live in the Live Free or Die state and they can damn well choose whether they want to join an organization or not join an organization,” Mr. Kfoury says of employees and unions.
Right-To-Work legislation passed both chambers of the state legislature this spring, but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Lynch. Though the Senate passed the measure by a veto-proof two-thirds majority, an override in the Republican-led House would seem to fall short.
Support of an override has been an applause line for New Hampshire Republican audiences this season. Texas Gov. Rick Perry mentioned an override on both New Hampshire visits last week, and former Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. wrote a Union Leader op-ed this month on Right-to-Work. Mr. Romney, too, regularly makes the case on the stump.
“Those states which have found ways to balance the rights and needs of people with the rights and needs of employers—states which have right to work laws—have out performed those that don’t,” Mr. Romney told the Manchester Rotary on Aug. 8. “Right-To-Work states, of which there are twenty two, have added three million jobs in the last ten years, whereas states which don’t have right to work have lost a million jobs.
“There’s no question in my view what would help New Hampshire in its quest to have more good jobs,” he continued. “One of those elements would be to have right to work legislation.”
Mr. Eaton's introduction, From Politico’s Morning Score:
“With 25 years of experience in the private sector, Mitt Romney knows how our economy works and how to promote pro-growth policies that will produce jobs,” Eaton will say. “Mitt is the strongest candidate to take on President Obama and he has the skills needed to rein in spending, control our exploding deficits and bring fiscal sanity back to Washington.” This is significant because Eaton is close to top Rick Perry adviser Dave Carney, who ran his 1999 upset special election victory.For more, visit us on twitter.com/primaryinsider.
Romney, Johnson Campaign in Granite State
By Gregory W. Wallace (gww@primaryinsider.com)
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney returns to New Hampshire today while former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is on his fifth of a nine-day tour of the state.
Mr. Romney holds a town hall meeting at noon at the Keene Recreation Center in Keene. He then goes to Claremont for a 3 pm business roundtable at The Common Man.
He holds a second town hall meeting at 5:30 pm in Lebanon at the Lebanon Senior Center.
Mr. Johnson begins his day at 9 am in Newmarket with a breakfast visit to Big Bean.
At 5 pm, he visits Al’s Gun and Reel Shop in Derry and at 6 o’clock, he hosts a town hall meeting at Pinkerton Academy in Derry.
For more, visit us on twitter.com/primaryinsider.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney returns to New Hampshire today while former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is on his fifth of a nine-day tour of the state.
Mr. Romney holds a town hall meeting at noon at the Keene Recreation Center in Keene. He then goes to Claremont for a 3 pm business roundtable at The Common Man.
He holds a second town hall meeting at 5:30 pm in Lebanon at the Lebanon Senior Center.
Mr. Johnson begins his day at 9 am in Newmarket with a breakfast visit to Big Bean.
At 5 pm, he visits Al’s Gun and Reel Shop in Derry and at 6 o’clock, he hosts a town hall meeting at Pinkerton Academy in Derry.
For more, visit us on twitter.com/primaryinsider.
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