Romney Pushes Values in JH
Aug 23rd 2007ScottPolitics & Wyoming & conservatism & elections
I have to admit, I’ve wondered why Jackson Hole? Why not some place more central like Casper or even the Capital (though that is not at all central, even more “on the edge” than Jackson Hole). Planet Jackson Hole made an interesting observation:
In Wyoming, historically a flyover state for presidential candidates (though the Vice President pushed a visible drive in Wyoming in ’04), a handful of factors – not the least of which might be Teton County’s tremendous wealth – could set the stage for future visits by other presidential wannabes.
The Wyoming GOP’s central committee voted last year to push the state’s Republican caucus ahead to coincide with Iowa’s January caucus. That move to garner more attention to land Wyoming on campaign maps was met by threats from the RNC that states looking to reschedule caucuses for sacred earlier dates could lose convention delegates when the party meets in St. Paul next year.
OK, so the confusion about the caucus being lined up with IA or NH not withstanding, the money aspect certainly makes sense. But then there is the traditional Democrat-leaning in Jackson that makes the stop all the more curious.
Anyway, the JH News & Guide reports that in addition to high-ticket fund raising (there’s the money factor again), Mr. Romney’s theme was social conservatism (sans anything about abortion and stem cells), pro-military (including victory), and pro-boarder security:
In his speech, Romney pushed a platform of improving the country’s economy, military and families.
He said the government needs to “help kids understand that before they have babies they need to get married,” and he pledged to fight pornography and sexual predators on the Internet.
Members of the crowd periodically punctuated Romney’s points with an “Amen.”
Romney said he supported the troop surge in Iraq and would like to add at least 100,000 troops to the country’s active military and increase military spending.
When asked about his immigration policy, Romney reiterated his hard-line stance against “sanctuary cities” where law enforcement does not report illegal immigrants to federal authorities. He said he would cut federal funding to those municipalities.
He said he favors securing the border and pushing illegal immigrants already in the country to “get in line with everyone else in the world” to apply for residency or citizenship through legal channels.
“There should be no special pathway, no special deal” for illegal immigrants to become citizens, he said.
Some good quotes, but still, his semi-pro-life stance concerns me. However, he does like WYGOP’s caucus move:
Romney said Wyoming will have a disproportionate influence on the selection for presidential candidates compared with its three electoral votes because of its early Republican primary. In February, the Wyoming Republican Party’s Central Committee voted to change Wyoming’s primary to coincide with New Hampshire’s in an effort to garner more attention from presidential candidates.
“History shows that people who do well in Iowa and New Hampshire typically become their party’s nominee,” Romney said. “Add Wyoming to that list.”
Oh, and he’s not qualified based on his experience as being a rare Republican Governor in a New England state, he’s qualified based on organizing the Salt Lake-hosted Winter Olympics. At least the Olympic factor seems to be the selling point for at least one supporter quoted in the article.
A side note, the southern I-25 Democrat Governor made a Jackson Hole stop earlier this week too.
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