Campaign pitches given for four of GOP hopefuls
By Stuart Frohm
01/13/2008

CLARE — Why prefer one of four candidates for the Republican presidential candidates?
Giving reasons Saturday to Republican activists were a U.S. senator from Kansas, Mitt Romney's youngest son, a former state lawmaker from Saginaw County and the Tuscola County Republican chairman.


Sen. John McCain has the best chance of winning the presidency in key states in November, said Sen. Sam Brownback. He endorsed McCain after ending his own campaign for the Republican nomination in October.


Craig Romney, 26, of New York City, praised his father's record of turning around Massachusetts as governor, the 2002 Winter Olympics and businesses — and being "a great dad."


Former state Sen. Mike Goschka lauded former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's consistency on both opposition to abortion and support for the right to keep and bear arms. Huckabee also wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and supports a national sales tax called the Fair Tax, Goschka said.


Phil Hardy, of Tuscola County, said U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter's anti-abortion record is stronger than McCain's and Romney's.


Hardy — a volunteer as Hunter's Michigan campaign chairman — also praised the Californian's position against illegal immigration. He said Hunter — a Vietnam veteran and former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee — is "the best kept secret in the Republican Party. It's time for us to not let him be a secret."


There was more from each of the speakers on their favorite candidate during the annual 4th District Republican Roundup at the Doherty Hotel Saturday.


Approximately 60 Republicans from the 14-county district attended. That's down from perhaps 150 who heard U.S. Rep. Dave Camp of Midland — one of Mitt Romney's Michigan campaign co-chairmen — praise him in Camp's keynote speech Friday night.


Also on the Republican primary ballot Tuesday are former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas — plus Brownback and Tom Tancredo, who both dropped out of the race.


Brownback praised the entire current Republican list. He then got laughs when he added "There's not a perfect candidate in the field — at least since I left."


McCain "is what he says he is," Brownback said, calling him "a straight shooter," "tough" and "the original hard rock fiscal conservative."


Brownback added that McCain has "a 24-year pro-life voting record," and that "we need one more justice on the Supreme Court" to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion.


Navy pilot McCain —an admiral's son — displayed "true grit" when he refused a North Vietnamese offer of freedom after learning fellow prisoners of war wouldn't be freed with him, Brownback said.


Craig Romney told how, in 1996, his father — "a man of tremendous integrity" with Michigan roots — stepped forward after the 14-year-old daughter of a business partner disappeared in New York City. Mitt Romney and others from the company helped search for the girl. She was found after someone called to ask about a reward, Craig Romney said.

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