ENDORSEMENT: Vote Mitt Romney in GOP Primaries and Caucuses

I’ve gone and done it. I dropped my vote-by-mail ballot in the mailbox along with my wife’s ballot. In the Arizona Republican Presidential Preference Primary set for Tuesday, February 5, 2008, my ballot was proudly marked for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The reasons I voted for Mitt Romney are many:

• National Security is the #1 vote-determining issue for me and Mitt Romney takes the jihadist threat seriously. I trust him to take command of the War on Terror from President Bush. He “gets” the threat from Iran and I believe he will ensure that the necessary support for democracy and free market development in the Middle East (and around the world) continues.
• Economics is my secondary concern when deciding who to vote for. Mitt Romney knows the economy and knows how jobs and wealth are created. We’ve often hear about “running government like a business” from citizens frustrated by the waste, fraud and abuse that is endemic to big government. Instead of headline-grabbing opposition to $2-million-Museum-of-Fudge-type earmarks, Mitt Romney is the kind of serious financial expert that can tackle our runaway entitlements. We need to fix Social Security and Mitt Romney has the “turnaround” experience to accomplish what President Bush could only raise as an issue.
• Culture of Life issues are very important to the future of this country and the Republican Party. Regardless of his prior stance on abortion, Mitt Romney has governed as a pro-life leader. He has not only changed his position to pro-life, he has a powerful testimony of how his evolution on this issue occurred. Pro-lifers need to recognize that in order to "win" on this issue, we are going to have to attract converts. Who better to lead as president on this effort than someone who has made that move and is willing to intelligently talk about his views on life issues. He has also been a leader on marriage and his personal story is a textbook case of "walking the talk" on family values (unlike many members of the GOP leadership over the years).
• Mitt Romney is probably one of the most intelligent people to have ever run for the office. In Massachusetts parlance, he’s “"WikidSmaht” earning an MBA and JD simultaneously from Harvard. He saved the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics Games, turning a $379 million deficit into a $56 million surplus. Unlike some who were born into wealth or married it, Mitt Romney used his keen intellect to build businesses and save enterprises. He was rightfully well-paid for these extraordinary feats. God bless him for his success and any good free market conservative would have absolutely no problem with the size of his fortune. To the contrary, his earned wealth should work to his favor as evidence that he is someone you can trust with the awesome power of the federal government has over our economy.
• During the campaign to date, he has also proven himself a superb candidate able to engage in tight debate argument and has the real skill of being well-grounded in all aspects of domestic and foreign policy with the ability to communicate his message.
• Lastly, I believe 2008 will be an election remembered as one reflecting a mood of change. A Washington politician will not be successful in presenting a winning “change” option to voters this fall. Mitt Romney is not of Washington and is not captive of Washington-think.

There are many other reasons to support Romney (e.g., appointment of judges/justices, ANWR drilling, pro-growth tax policy, health care reform, etc.) but the above should give any conservative Republican more than enough reason to support him.

When I first started thinking about the 2008 race a couple years back, Mitt Romney was my second choice behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Since Jeb Bush announced he wouldn’t run, I easily gravitated toward Romney back in 2006. Since then he has done nothing to cause me to regret supporting him, including my support financially.

If you are voting in Florida on Tuesday, on Super Tuesday on February 5^th or later, I urge you to visit Mitt Romney’s website and find out why the conservative choice in GOP primaries and caucuses is Mitt Romney.