November 5, 2012
Supporters flock to hear GOP candidate's plan to 'take our country back'
November 5, 2012
Supporters flock to hear GOP candidate's plan to 'take our country back'
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney smiles as he campaigns at the International Exposition Center in Cleveland, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012.
CLEVELAND – Mitt Romney’s campaign cranked the rock tunes and red-lined the urgency as the Republican swooped through four battleground states with the clock ticking on his White House dreams.
“Do we want our country back?” Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Sam Moore asked as he launched into a rendition of “Soul Man” to fire up thousands of Romney supporters here.
“We’ve got to win this for America,” said Romney, campaigning in striped tie and shirtsleeves. “We ask you to stay at it all the way, all the way to victory on Tuesday night.”
Outside the International Exposition Center, Romney’s “Believe In America” plane shared tarmac space with Air Force 2 as Vice President Joe Biden barnstormed the Buckeye State – yet another indication of how much this corner of the country has become Ground Zero of the campaign.
“God, I hope he wins, because I don’t like anything (President) Obama’s done, ” said travel agent Kali Hurban, 29, of Valley City, Ohio.
She already cast her vote by the time she hit the rally to hear Ann Romney promise that her husband “will always stand by my side, and he will always do what’s right for America.”
Romney began the day in Iowa, where the Oak Ridge Boys led boosters at a Des Moines Hy-Vee hall in “Amazing Grace” and, of course, their signature song, “Elvira,” as supporters boosted their kids into the air to see their candidate one more time before America goes to the polls.
It’s been a long road from the early days down to the wire for faithful supporters like Lynia Ghormley, 55, a Colfax, Iowa, Republican who has backed Romney since he ran in the primary four years ago.
“He’s a man of character. He believes in America…Great men are meant for great things,” said Ghormley, who’s starting a coffee and gift shop to support the American Working Dog Museum in her town.
“A long wait, and finally there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Against a backdrop of huge “Victory” signs, whirling spotlights and American flags bigger than Manhattan living rooms, Romney worked to seal the deal by arguing that the incumbent’s “Forward” roadmap is really just four more years of bad road.
He stayed on the campaign’s closing message – with the help of a TelePrompTer, which he doesn’t always use on the road – painting Obama as a partisan who can’t deliver on his lofty promises or revive a sluggish economy.
“Two more days! Two more days and we can get to work rebuilding our country! Walk with me to a better future!” Romney told his Cleveland supporters before they took their thundersticks and flags and streamed out to cars plastered with “Nobama” and “Don’t Tread on Me” bumper stickers.
Courtesy: NYD
