Romney Campaigns in Manchester, NH: Receives Unusual Budget Cutting Gift

After enjoying Hawkeye State hospitality for a couple of days, Mitt Romney journeyed back to Manchester, New Hampshire.

He and wife, Ann, greeted supporters yesterday evening in the backyard of Ovide LaMontagne. (LaMontagne was defeated by just over 1500 votes by Kellly Ayote for a senate seat during New Hampshire’s last Republican primary.)

CBSNews.com

Romney[...] joined roughly 200 Granite State voters Friday night at the home of conservative leader Ovide Lamontagne. It was his second visit this week to the state that holds the earliest presidential primary and which Romney has made central to his early state strategy.

He was introduced as a “nearly native son of New Hampshire” and joked about paying local tolls and property taxes on his Wolfeboro summer home.

Asked about his absence from Iowa on the eve of the straw poll, Romney said, “I’m happy to be in Manchester tonight. I respect deeply the Ames straw poll process. And were I participating this year in that process, I’d be there.”

Regarding the budget cutting gift Romney was given, he tweeted:

“Thanks for the budget cutting ax. I can’t wait to get my hands on spending in Washington.”

Someone else was in Manchester…

[Jon] Huntsman spent the day hosting a discussion with business owners in Manchester and visiting a Concord restaurant[...]

He also offered perhaps his sharpest criticism yet of Romney, saying the former Massachusetts governor acted irresponsibly in not immediately staking a clear position on the debt-ceiling debate while Congress was negotiating with President Barack Obama.

“You don’t wait till the very end, as Gov. Romney did, and put your finger to the wind and basically come down on the safe side politically. I don’t think that’s leadership,” Huntsman said. “The presidency is about exerting leadership, and if you’re not willing to show leadership on something as important as the debt ceiling, it begs the question, When are you going to show some leadership?”

Huntsman must have been snoozing when Governor Romney answered the debt ceiling question at the debate last night, or he is ‘google‘ illiterate, or he’s intentionally misrepresenting Governor Romney. And, he ‘borrowed’ Sarah Palin’s line.

But, I digress…

While speaking at the packed backyard party last night, Mitt also spoke more on his “corporations are people” remark that has spooked socialists liberals:

Boston.com Aug 12, 2011

MANCHESTER, N.H. – At a friendly Republican gathering here tonight, presidential candidate Mitt Romney defended his recent comment in Iowa that “corporations are people” and said Democrats fundamentally misunderstand corporations’ makeup. “Businesses are people,” he said.

“What do they think they are? Little men from Mars?” Romney said at the home of Ovide Lamontagne, a prominent New Hampshire Republican and former Senate candidate.

Romney said the Obama administration’s view of business is antiquated and stuck in the 1960s.

“At that time, there was a sentiment somehow that businesses were bad, that it was anti-people. And the Obama administration seems to think that the 60s is here again. Business is good. I am talking about repair shops and gas stations and beauty salons and restaurants. I am talking about Apple Computer and Facebook and Microsoft,” Romney said.

Drew Cline (Editorial Page Editor, NH Union Leader) tweeted the event. A couple of examples:

DrewHampshire Drew Cline

Ovide introduces romney by calling him a man of character. #fitn

Romney: “I’m not running for the rich. The rich will take care of themselves. I’m running for the american pple.” #fitn

Enjoy reading more of the tweet report here.

UPDATE: A slideshow of Mitt and Ann in Manchester, NH last night may be found here.


► Jayde Wyatt