Open letter to Gov. Romney

I am mailing a hard copy of this letter to Gov. Romney and am e-mailing it to a few other sites in the hope that by getting it out there, it may actually catch his eyes or those of a close family member or advisor.

Dear Gov. Romney,

This is a difficult letter to write, one that I had earnestly hoped would never be written. Rather, a congratulatory letter upon your pending Republican nomination was what I had hoped and planned to write. It is extremely difficult for me to let go of the desire to see you elected President in 2008, as I am sure it is difficult for you and your family to let this dream go. I have been on the Romney bandwagon nearly a year and had absolutely no doubt from very early on that you were the best candidate.

That said, the time obviously is here to move on to the next stage. I am making this an open letter to you and intend to post it on my blog www.okromney.blogspot.com and other Romney sites in the hope that this increases the likelihood of it actually reaching your eyes or those of close family and/or advisors. As I said, I wish it were a congratulatory note and a vow to support you as the GOP nominee this fall.

You have fought a hard, but honorable fight. I am fully confident you will conduct yourself with equal dignity after leaving the race. I did want to toss out a few points – points of which I am sure you are already well aware. While I realize Richard Nixon may be a name that draws very mixed emotions in the Romney household, I cannot help but think of both Nixon in 1964 and Barry Goldwater in 1960 when I think of your situation now. Nixon’s case especially strikes home to me. Obviously you know the background. After his 1962 gubernatorial loss, Nixon’s career seemed over. He did everything he could for the party, however, campaigning for Goldwater and then showing his party loyalty by being probably the GOP’s hardest working campaigner and money-raiser during the next three years. I won’t bother getting into 1968 for obvious reasons, but Nixon, like Goldwater, later had his shot.

I hope you will not consider this a one-shot effort. I hope Sen. McCain wins in November. I will vote for him and urge others to do so. I am confident that both you and Gov. Huckabee will do likewise. With a united front I think we stand a good chance. I do hope that, should Sen. McCain offer you the vice presidential slot, you will take it. This would not only boost the ticket’s chances of winning, but would obviously give you a national bump in name recognition as well. Even a loss as the No. 2 man has not seemed to diminish future presidential hopefuls’ chances.

Whatever happens this fall, I really believe you are Sen. McCain’s natural successor as the GOP standard-bearer. If the senator wins, I would imagine he is unlikely to seek a second term. Obviously, if he loses, a door is open – although I know we would both prefer you being able to take a different route.

I fully believe that simple lack of name recognition and the confusion of social conservatives as to which way to go did you in this time. I fear that too many voters who had not followed the race closely merely knew the candidates as “the ex-president’s wife,” “the black guy,” “the Mormon,” “the preacher guy” and John McCain. I really believe that the vast majority of voters who actually heard you speak in more than a sound bite were tremendously impressed.
The more I saw of you and your family, the more I admired you. Those of us who lived on Romney Web sites and blogs the past several months got to see sides of you that probably 95 percent of the electorate didn’t, from helping storm victims remove a tree trunk, to the rescue of an associate’s daughter, to the charming footage of you and Ann dancing barefoot in your living room as your grandchildren observed all they will ever need to see for role models in the two of you. I have almost come to feel like a part of the Romney family myself, as I imagine many of your staunch supporters have.

If people like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and (by opposing Sen. McCain) Dr. James Dobson had done their thing earlier, it might have been very different. Be that as it may, you leave 2008 as potentially the darling of the conservative crowd, which is quite a nice base to build upon.

I hope you did not find this full-fledged plunge into politics distasteful and that you will begin right away laying the foundation to put Mrs. Romney in her rightful place as the lovely First Lady of this land.

As a Missouri Baptist now living and voting in Oklahoma, who hopes to be wrapping up a Ph.D. in history at the University of Kentucky by the 2012 election, I stand ready to support any future endeavors you may choose to pursue. May the Lord bless and keep you and yours and thank you for some wonderful memories during the past year.

A loyal supporter,




Mark Evans
Blackwell, OK

The time is here

Friends, the time is almost at hand. We go to the polls Tuesday as one of 21 Republican states taking part in Super Tuesday.

I have not seen any polls for Oklahoma. In my former state, Missouri, it appears that Gov. Romney, McCain & Huckabee are in a virtual three-way heat. I'm glad I took time to e-mail all the GOP leaders I could think of in Missouri (and Oklahoma). I don't know if the e-mails swayed anyone, but at least I gave it a shot.

I urge other Mitt backers to do all the can during the remaining time between now and the close of polls on Tuesday. Some polls (like the Fox News poll) makes it sound like Mitt will be lucky to be in second place after Tuesday. Many, like the Rassmussen Poll, show he & McCain in a virtual tie overall and Mitt leading in California. And, of course, polling has been very, very off the mark this time around.

Let's be sure and get out to vote and make one last surge.

Endorsements

Conservatives are beginning to gravitate toward Mitt ... and away from John McCain.

Sean Hannity and Laura Ingram has said that Gov. Romney has their vote. Rush Limbaugh has supported him, as has Ann Coulter. Ann, for those of you who missed it, provided one of the most amazing pieces of television theatre last night on Hannity & Colmes. She said that if McCain gets the GOP nomination that she will vote for Hillary Clinton, because SHE is more of a dependable conservative than HE is!

I hope she recants this if McCain DOES get the nomination, but her point was crystal clear: When stacked up against Sen. McClain, even Team Clinton appears conservative!

Another anti-endorsement has the Rev. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family Ministries, saying that he could not support McCain if he is the nominee. Meanwhile, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has endorsed Gov. Romney.

We are past the point of merely collecting endorsements, though. Super Tuesday is just a hair's breath away and Oklahoma has 41 delegates in the offing. We need to do what we can to get behind Mitt.