Romney rallies the faithful in Roanoke County
Mitt Romney
A fired-up Mitt Romney rallied a crowd of thousands in Roanoke County this morning on the first of three stops in Virginia.
Romney played off one of President Barack Obama’s slogans of four years ago –“Hope and change” — by arguing that he offers “real change.”
After a few days of relative political truce for Hurricane Sandy and its fallout, Romney was back on the offensive, contrasting what he sees as two different paths for the American people.
If Obama is re-elected, he said, American debt will reach $20 trillion in four years. Romney said the United States will follow a “road to crisis” similar to that that has affected debt-stricken European countries like Greece and Spain. And he predicted that seniors will have trouble getting Medicare coverage for specialists, as it will be cut to fund the health care reform law, or Obamacare.
But Romney said he will create 12 million jobs by cutting taxes, streamlining government regulations and freeing “below-the-ground” energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas.
“Just under 3,000″ people attended the rally, according to a Romney campaign official.
Romney spoke for about 24 minutes, with U.S. Senate candidate George Allen standing beside him and a banner reading “Real Change on Day One” behind him.
You can read more about the visit in a story on the front page. You can also read my live tweets (they drop out when George Allen took the stage, as I took to pen and paper to take notes on his and Romney’s speeches) or the live tweets of Roanoke County reporter Annie McCallum, who covered the whole thing at the Roanoke Times LIVE twitter account.
– Mason Adams
November 1, 2012 - 11:03 AM
A crowd of thousands? Just under three thousand. The Republicans still have math problems.
Mason Adams, you have a dream job, getting paid to go see political events!!!
1 – Last time I checked, anything 2,000 or more would be considered as “thousands”.
But what do I know? I’m just a common sense conservative, after all…
Sarah Palin drew 15,000 to Salem…and lost. Say goodnight, Mitt.
John McCain lost in 2008, Art. The worst GOP candidate since Bob Dole.
Mitt Romney is no McCain. And Obama’s record in office stinks. The enthusiasm is on our side this time.
TOR, lmao. “Enthusiasm”?? It took Romney straight through May to make his way to the top of a field that had been dominated by people like Perry and Cain. There’s no “enthusiasm” for Romney…he’s just who you ended up stuck with.
Only 2,800 showed up in Franklin County, OH this morning.
6 – we’ll see who is “lmao” on Wednesday. I see far more R/R bumper stickers and yard signs this year than O/B ones. And I hear this same story from observers all over the country. We want change, and we’re fired up!
Also…getting back to Art’s comment…the Palin event in 2008 was at night. Yesterday’s Romney event was during working hours, when most conservatives are busy.
I wanted to be there…and if it had been in the evening I would have.
#7 Then there were the 4,000 who showed up at his next event, Kathie.
Truth be told, both camps pick smaller places they know they can fill, especially during a work day.
TOR, I support Obama and I don’t have a sign or sticker on my car. Be fired up all you want, but please stop trying to see Romney as the source of any big “enthusiasm”.
Nobody was enthused about Romney until they had to be.
Right wing commentators were never enthused for him, nor were fellow Republicans.
The right wants anyone but Obama and would be fired up if the current R candidate were a part time janitor who was a registered Republican.
Not to say that the left doesn’t hold a “anybody-but-this-guy” attitude as well when it comes to getting someone they dislike out of office.
But it’s been pretty laughable watching people pretend to be enthused about Romney when they never liked him much from the get go.
Then again, most people just vote by party line anyway so it’s not like it’s surprising. Just more cringe worthy this time when it’s someone who was truly not a party favorite and has tried more than any other candidate in history to buy the presidency.
“Mitt Romney is no McCain.”
You’re right, he’s worse. Getting mighty bad when you have to trot out the old “welfare queen” meme to support your position.
12 – I didn’t do that to “support my position”. I did that merely to tweak liberals like you, and you took the bait.
Furthermore, I didn’t specifically say the enthusiasm was so much for Romney as a candidate. You’re right, it is more about getting the worst POTUS since Jimmy Carter out of office. Four more years like the last four? Oh, hell no!
“I did that merely to tweak liberals like you”
Oh, you’re simply too clever! Twit.
Vote for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election!!!!