Thursday, January 31, 2008
Romney finds his crowd at Fountain Valley rally
GOP hopeful emphasizes differences between him and John McCain.
By MARTIN WISCKOL
The Orange County Register


FOUNTAIN VALLEY – Mitt Romney received a bust of Ronald Reagan, a surfboard emblazoned with his name, and a boisterous ovation this morning when he held a warehouse rally, where he tried to better position himself as conservatives' choice in the GOP presidential race.

Just beforehand, in a teleconference with the Register's editorial board, Romney acknowledged that John McCain is the frontrunner, and announced that he had just authorized a seven-figure buy of television ads in 20 states. California is one of 24 states voting for primary candidates on Tuesday, when the nomination of both parties may – or may not – be decided.

Romney was criticized for being weak on attacking McCain at Wednesday's debate. He seemed to take it up a notch at the rally, where hundreds of people packed into a furniture warehouse and a hundred or so more spilled into the adjacent alley.

"When the economy's in trouble, it's helpful to have a person who's actually had a job in the real economy," Romney said, a reference to his success in the business world. "I do understand the economy. It is my strong suit."

His assault on McCain then became direct, as he painted himself as the true conservative in the race. He laid into his opponent for three pieces of proposed legislation McCain has authored, the McCain –Feingold campaign reform measure, the McCain-Kennedy immigration measure which would have legalized illegal immigrants, and the McCain-Lieberman bill to address global warming.

He also criticized McCain for opposing President Bush's tax cuts to the wealthy.

"In five days, the question is going to be, 'Which direction for the Republican Party?'" he said.

As he spoke, Romney had his new surfboard – a gift from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R- Huntington Beach – at his feet. The two large signs on either side of him proclaimed, "Washington is Broken" and "Economic Turnaround." That underlined his emphasis on domestic issues, while McCain's strength among Republicans is often seen as foreign affairs.

Romney started his speech by acknowledging the financial generosity of Orange County, which has given more to him than any other candidate, as much as the top two Democratic candidates combined.

"We've raised more money in California than anywhere else, and more in Orange County than anywhere in California," he said.

One reason for that is the dozen or so Orange County heavy hitters gathered around him on the warehouse stage. They included state Senate GOP Leader Dick Ackerman, Reps. Rohrabacher and Gary Miller, county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, real estate mogul Hadi Makarechian, and former state GOP Chairman Mike Schroeder. Also sharing stage was eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

Before the event, Schroeder – Romney's political director for California – said that while state polling shows McCain ahead, Romney will be helped by the rules that allow only Republicans to vote in the primary here. (Democrats allow unaffiliated voters to join in the balloting for their nominee.)

While McCain has made a point of his ability to work with Democrats, Schroeder said that leaves Romney with stronger appeal to conservatives, who will have a major say in Tuesday's GOP outcome.

Fountain Valley's Bill Paxson, an officer for the Los Angeles Port Police who turned out for the rally, said he was disappointed by Rudy Giuliani's endorsement of McCain on Wednesday. But he said McCain was a one-trick pony – a decorated war vet strong on military issues.

"I get frustrated when people focus on just one issue," Paxson said. "Although I love what McCain did for his country, too much attention is being paid to that. In my line of work, homeland security is huge, but you can't elect a person on one issue alone."

Hal and Suzanne LeFevre of Irvine were also on hand. They called Romney the "true conservative" in the race, applauded his experience with economic issue and his position on immigration – and offered some advice.

"He's needs to step out and talk about values – family values, Christian values and the values this country was built on," Suzanne LeFevre said.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/romney-f ... -crowd-in#