Romney Campaign Bytes for June

Romney Will Be the Nominee

After winning the Texas primary at the end of May, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reached the “magic number” of 1,144. This is the total number of party delegates a candidate needs to claim the GOP presidential nomination.

Romney won handily in Texas, capturing 69 percent of the vote. His gain of 105 delegates from Texas was the key event that pushed him over the top in the delegate race. Romney also won the June 5^th primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Romney will officially become the Republican nominee when all of party delegates vote at the Republican Party convention in Tampa, Florida, in late August.

Moving from the primary to the general election campaign has provided Romney with a boost in campaign contributions.  The Romney campaign announced that for the month of May they had raised $76.8 million in contributions—a $17 million advantage over Obama’s fundraising efforts. Romney also continues to collect SuperPAC money with outside groups supporting republicans outspending those supporting democrats 8 to 1 by one estimate.

Romney has been campaigning across the country, attending rallies, fund raising dinners, and making speeches. He has recently spent time fund raising out in the West, spending significant time in both Nevada and California. This week Romney has been campaigning in Ohio. He’s also starting his “every town counts” bus tour, where he’ll visit  rural American towns.

No More Firemen, Policemen, Teachers

Sometimes candidates think they are “on message,” but have their remarks interpreted differently than expected. Such gaffes provide sound-bites on the evening news that are quickly seized on by their opponents.

Perhaps Romney’s biggest campaign gaffe of June came at a speech in Iowa where he talked about the failed recall of Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Walker. Romney said that the failed recall showed that people don’t want more police, teachers, and firefighters. (Walker signed legislation limiting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions, which represent workers such as teachers and police, and the unsuccessful drive to have him recalled was in response to these policies.)

Romney’s intent was to critique Obama’s proposal for more stimulus to hire back teachers and other public-sector workers. But the remarks made Romney seem as if he believed that the work of teachers, firefighters, and police were not important. It took a few days, but eventually Romney tried to distance himself from the remarks, while the Obama campaign tried to capitalize on the comments to show that Romney could not relate to average working Americans.

Romney Campaign Attacks Obama’s Use of Federal Funds

The economy is the major issue of this presidential election. So Romney’s campaign has described Obama’s attempts to improve the economy as “failed” economic stimulus projects. It criticized giving federal money to support Solyndra and other green-energy companies. Solyndra, a solar energy firm, received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government but later went bankrupt.

In early June, Romney made a surprise visit to the former headquarters of Solyndra in Fremont, California. On the steps of the shut-down building, he criticized Obama for trying to please supporters by giving a federal loan to the now bankrupt company. He held up the Solyndra venture as an example of what he called Obama’s mishandling of the economy.

Upcoming Dates for the Campaign

If you want to see where Romney will be campaigning next, visit his campaign Web site www.mittromney.com. Here are a few upcoming campaign dates.

June 26^th: Final Republican primary in Utah

July 4^th: Independence Day

August 27^th-30^th: 2012 Republican National Convention, Tampa, FL