As the general election has just kicked off, with the economy getting the main focus and attention, and Obama taking some hits on his record, it is also important to see how American voters view President Obama’s conduct and his handling of issues that matter to most Americans.

Let’s look particularly at a demographic that may play an important party in determining who becomes the next President of the U.S. in November 2012 – the Jewish American electorate. Since this race is going to come down to a battle over swing states, those that historically and demographically choose the President, the Jewish population in Florida, Ohio, Philadelphia and Cleveland could be the demographic giving Mitt Romney the edge over the President.

A new poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks for the AJC, shows the mixed political mind of the American Jewish community as the nation heads into general election season. It reveals Romney making significant inroads in the Jewish community, getting the support of 28 percent, 6 months before election day. In comparison, President George W. Bush, considered one of Israel’s greatest friends, got only 24 percent of the Jewish vote in his reelection bid in 2004. Senator McCain, also known as a strong supporter of Israel during his years in the Senate, got only 22 percent.

The poll also shows President Obama getting only 61 percent of the Jewish vote, a decline of 17 points down from the 78 percent he got in 2008. 11 percent are undecided, but when asked whom they are leaning towards, 5% picked Romney and 6% picked the president. Even before the Veep pick, the national convention, and the campaign effort which is expected to be aggressive and carefully area targeted in the months ahead, that gives Mitt Romney roughly 33% of the Jewish vote.

Based on this poll data, one could confidentially assume Mitt Romney getting around 39% of the Jewish vote in November. It matches President Reagan’s 1980-1984 support.

The analysis is based on poll data, which could be spinned and twisted brilliantly by both campaigns, but also gives us a glimpse of how the electorate is somewhat similar to 1980 when Ronald Reagan challenged President Jimmy Carter. When asked for the most important issues in deciding their vote, 80 percent of American Jews cited the economy, 57 percent health care, 26 percent national security and 22 percent U.S.-Israel relations. But among those who are more focused on national security concerns or U.S.-Israel relations, only 42 percent would vote for Obama. Forty-four percent of those who cite national security and 45 percent of those who cite U.S.-Israel relations would vote for Romney.

Regardless of how the respondents intend to vote, 60 percent think the Democratic Party is more likely to make the right decision in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. 37 percent choose the Republican Party. The same is with national security issues and the economy in which 36% trust the Republicans compared to 60-62 that trust the Democrats.

Nonetheless, if this election is a combination of the economy and national security issues, based on the assumption these factors will be key in determining the support each candidate might get – the President’s record, his name recognition, his incumbency advantage and Mitt Romney’s aggressive campaigning mode, one could definitely expect Mitt Romney to pick up high support among Jewish voters. Consequently, that would create an opening and opportunity for the Republican party to open it doors, run competitive Jewish candidates, make Jews feel comfortable in the GOP party, and most of all, be just enough to tilt some highly contested Battleground states in Mitt Romney’s column.

Governor Mitt Romney and wife, Ann, were guests on the CBS This Morning program today. Co-hosts Charlie Rose and Erica Hill conducted the interview.

Part 1 - Romney on Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, Bin Laden death shouldn’t be campaign issue, VP posssibilities:

…Romney said the president “has every right to take credit” for ordering the mission.

Romney added: “At the same time, I think it was very disappointing for the president to try and make this a political item by suggesting that I wouldn’t have ordered such a raid. Of course I would have. Any American — any thinking American — would have ordered exactly the same thing. But of course you give the president the credit for the fact that he did so.”

Part 2 - After hearing, for the umpteenth time, questions about Mitt’s personality, Ann Romney says he’s still “wild and crazy”:

“I still look at him as the boy that I met in high school when he was playing all the jokes and really just being crazy — pretty crazy. So there’s a wild and crazy man inside there.”

Read more…

The National Rifle Association Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum has been ongoing this week in St. Louis, Missouri. An important GOP interest group, the annual meeting attracts top conservatives.

Governor Mitt Romney addressed the gathering yesterday:

Although gun control groups have complained that Obama has done little to support their cause, Romney took a page from the NRA leadership, which has been saying that the president is waiting for a second term to crack down on firearms. He warned that Obama would “remake” the Supreme Court in a second term, threatening constitutional freedoms.

“In a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election,” Romney told a crowd estimated at 6,000 in the Edward Jones Dome.

Referring specifically to the right to bear arms, Romney said: “If we are going to safeguard our Second Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes. I will.”

Governor Romney’s speech:

In his first term, we’ve seen the president try to browbeat the Supreme Court. In a second term, he would remake it. Our freedoms would be in the hands of an Obama Court, not just for four years, but for the next 40. That must not happen.

As President, I will uphold the rule of law – and put America back on the path toward the Founders’ vision. I don’t want to transform America; I want to return America to the principles that made this nation great.

Our Founders began this great American Experiment. They created a nation conceived in liberty and they entrusted us with the duty to preserve it and defend it.

A transcript of Romney’s speech may be read here.

I like this photo…

Read more…

Artist/cartoonist Sal Velluto doesn’t miss a beat.

♫ Here’s America’s Crooner-in-Chief… ♪♫

*Let’s Stay Together

I’m, I’m so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
It’s alright with me
‘Cause you make me feel so brand new
I want to spend my life with you
Things just ain’t the same, baby, since we’ve been together
Ooh, loving you forever
Is what I need
Let me be the one you come running to
I’ll never be untrue

Ooh, baby, let’s, let’s stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Why somebody, why people break up?
Oh, turn around and make up
I just can’t see
You’d never do that to me (Would you, baby?)
So to be around you is all I see
Is what I want us to
Let’s, we ought to stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Let’s, let’s stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad…

*Written by Al Green, Al Jackson Jr., Willie Mitchell

► Jayde Wyatt

Obama bared his soul in Seoul yesterday.

Except, he didn’t mean to.

It was a flub.

A big one.

Speaking to soon-to-be-booted-out Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a hot mic caught Obama revealing a secret agenda for Russia (after claiming he’ll be re-elected this fall):

Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him [Putin] to give me space.”
Medvedev: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…”
Obama: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir, and I stand with you.”

(Did you catch the body language between the two presidents…?)

Obviously, Obama and Medvedev didn’t know the world would hear their exchange. By the way, Putin (recently elected under dubious procedures) is expected to appoint Medvedev as Russia’s Prime Minister.

› Governor Romney addressed Obama’s telling revelation yesterday while speaking to an audience in San Diego, CA and talking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Hugh Hewitt also got The Gov’s take on it. LISTEN TO AUDIO of Hewitt’s interview here.

HH: So the President says, Governor Romney, this is my last election, after my election I have more flexibility. And President Medvedev says I understand, I will transmit this information to Vladimir. Your reaction, Governor Romney?

MR: Well, it is revealing, it is alarming, it’s troubling, it suggests that the President has a very different agenda with the Russians than he’s willing to tell the American people. And for that reason alone, we ought to vote him out of office. This is a very disconcerting development.

HH: What do you think he has in mind, Governor, when he says I will be flexible? Is it missile defense? It is the number of our warheads? Is it Iran? What is he talking about?

MR: Well, he says missile defense, but we’re talking about one of those two issues, either missile defense or warheads. What he’s done on warheads, of course, with the new START Treaty, he took warheads down to 1,500 on strategic nuclear weapons. Of course, the Russians were already at 1,500. They didn’t have to have any reductions. We were at 2,200. So the only reduction in his missile defense treaty was a reduction at the U.S. level. And of course, he ignored the tactical nuclear weapons, which are of course the same nukes. They’re just on smaller rockets. He ignored that, where Russia has an advantage of five or ten to one over us. So this is a president who continues to try and appease and accommodate, and believes that the best interests of America are to bow to the interests of Russia. And it’s very, very troubling, and I mean, I’m very disturbed by this. I hope the American people understand that what we heard from the President is revealing about his character in terms of what he tells the American people, and revealing about his direction and sentiment with regards to Russian, which is after all our number one geopolitical foe. They don’t represent a military threat to us at the present, but they oppose us at every turn in the United Nations, and oppose us in every one of our efforts, whether in Iraq or Iran, North Korea. They’re on the other side. And for him to be cozying up with them with regards to missile defense is simply unacceptable.

HH: How do you expect this aside from the President will be understood in Poland and the Czech Republic, and Ukraine, and Georgia, and other front line states facing a newly-expansive Russia?

MR: Well, I think our friends around the world have been reevaluating their relationship with the United States, in part because of this president’s treatment of friends relative to the treatment of enemies. I’ve heard from more than one foreign leader that it seems to be preferable to be an American foe than an American friend to this president.

HH: Now Governor Romney, the press will of course attempt to dismiss this as not a big issue. Will this remain a front line issue? And do you think that the President has got to spell out with great detail what he has in mind here?

MR: You know, I don’t think he can recover from it, to tell you the truth. I mean, I think he will try and spin something. But I don’t know how you spin from an open mic, where you’re talking about having more flexibility after the election, which means quite clearly that you don’t want the American people to hear what you’re really planning on doing, and that you’re going to be able to do more when you no longer are accountable to the American people. You know, the mainstream media may try and put this to bed, but we’re going to keep it alive and awake. And we’re going to keep hammering him with it all the way through November.

Full transcript may be found here.

› Here’s video of Romney discussing Obama’s comments with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (The Situation Room):

Text and UPDATES are included below the fold.

Read more…

Because Super Tuesday is now in the rear view mirror, Mitt Romney supporters are breathing a little easier and enjoying a super Wednesday.

With Romney’s solid victories from Alaska to Vermont, we can see the path to the GOP nomination clearly (more on that in a moment). No rest for Governor Romney, however. He was up bright and early in Newton, MA to be interviewed on CNBC’s Squawk Box. He spoke about election results, Obama’s failed policies, jobs, economy, entitlements, and more:

● Romney on uniting different factions of the party if he’s the nominee:

“. . . When we we have a nominee, we will come together because Barack Obama has organized a conservative community. … The community organizer has organized us in a big way. We’re going to come together because we really believe he needs to be replaced – that he’s over his head, that the debt he’s amassed, the jobs he has not created – suggest that this is a guy whose time has come for early retirement.”

● Sidenote: Several days ago, when Sarah Palin stated on FOX News that the candidate who really focuses on gasoline prices would be the one to support, one didn’t have to rub a crystal ball to know that Newt Gingrich would somehow, out of thin air, come up with a gas plan real quick. Sure enough, the very next day, Gingrich announced his $2.50 per gallon meme. Now, he thinks he OWNS the issue. Wrong. Romney has been strongly advocating for energy independence since 2007, wrote extensively about it in his book No Apology (published spring 2010), and, at every opportunity, continues to stress the importance of using our own energy resources. (It’s no secret Palin voted yesterday for Gingrich.)

● During today’s interview, Romney spoke again on gasoline prices:

Are you happy with high gasoline prices in part because this administration has not been willing to take in energy from other places across America? . . . I think people recognize that the president can’t precisely set the price at the pump, but he can decide how much of the money that’s being paid for oil and gas is going to other nations. And, to get that money staying here and to create jobs here and to stabilize prices here, he ought to be taking advantage of all of our offshore and ANWAR and North Dakota and Oklahoma and Texas oil and gas resources instead of trying to hold them off. Natural gas is a huge win for us. And, through the EPA, he’s been trying to hold that off. Coal is, of course, a major source of our electric power. He’s made it more difficult to get the coal, more difficult to use the coal. And, of course, the Keystone Pipeline bringing energy in from Canada, that was a no-brainer. He failed that test. If we want to get America energy secure, you have to take advantage of the energy resources we have. And, fortunately, with recent discoveries from Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, there’s a lot of energy in this country. Let’s take advantage of it.

Entire transcript may be found here.

● Among the varied post-Super Tuesday analysis, we read ‘Romney is a frail frontrunner’. Uh huh. He’s so frail he has more than double the delegates Santorum has and Gingrich and Paul have been left in the campaign dust. No, talking heads. Romney is a formidable frontrunner. Today, Hugh Hewitt pointed out a fact the mainstream media is missing (and gave MRC a nod, as well):

Read more…

Wave after wave, endorsements for Mitt Romney keep rolling in…

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft joins our Romney ranks and, following the example of Senator Tom Coburn yesterday, additional leaders in Oklahoma say Mitt is THE MAN. They also cite the endorsement theme we’re seeing over and over again – Romney’s proven leadership.

Romney Press Team:

Fmr U.S. Atty Gen John Ashcroft

“It is an honor to have the support of Attorney General Ashcroft,” said Mitt Romney. “After working with him on the 2002 Winter Olympics, I know that he is deeply committed to serving our country and protecting its citizens and I look forward to his counsel over the coming months.”

“The election in November is as important an election as I can remember,” said Attorney General Ashcroft. “At home, we face economic and fiscal peril and abroad, we face uncertainty in volatile regions of the world. Our country needs an iron-willed president of integrity to lead us through these troubled times. No other candidate stands out for his executive leadership experience or ability to accomplish difficult tasks as does Mitt Romney. As a conservative who served as Governor of Missouri during the Reagan revolution, I admire Mitt’s record of fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, and defense of traditional values in a politically difficult state for a Republican. I had the opportunity to work with Mitt Romney on issues of national security during the 2002 Winter Olympics and counted him as a trustworthy, effective ally in the fight against terror while he was Governor of Massachusetts. I know that the lives and liberties of the American people will be secure with him as President. I am grateful for the opportunity to support him and urge all voters who want to restore America to her preeminent place of leadership in values, strength and prosperity to support him now and in November.”

Background on Attorney General John Ashcroft:

John Ashcroft has had a long and distinguished history in public service. From 2001 to 2005, he served in President George W. Bush’s cabinet as Attorney General. Ashcroft served one term as a U.S. Senator from Missouri and two terms as Missouri’s Governor. From 1977 to 1985, Ashcroft served as Missouri’s Attorney General. From 1973 to 1974, Ashcroft was the Missouri State Auditor. He currently serves as the founder of The Ashcroft Group, LLC.

Romney Press Team:

Click on map to enlarge.

Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today announced the support of additional Oklahoma leaders.

“I am pleased to have so much support from so many in Oklahoma,” said Mitt Romney. “Their hard work will be necessary to defeat President Obama in November, put in place policies that work for the American people, and bring back economic prosperity to Oklahoma and the rest of the country.”

Announcing his support, former Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Steve Edwards said, “The top goals for conservatives in Oklahoma and across the country are to defeat President Obama and put in place a pro-growth agenda that will reverse the failed policies of the last three years. In Mitt Romney, we have a man with the leadership experience and bold economic plan to both defeat President Obama and put our country on the right track again. I am proud to announce my support and encourage all Oklahomans looking for a different direction in Washington to support Mitt Romney on Tuesday.”

Oklahoma leaders endorsing Mitt Romney:

Steve Edwards, Former Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman
Forrest Claunch, Former State Representative, Conservative Advocate
Carol Hefner, Oklahoma County Conservative activist

Previous Oklahoma endorsements:

Senator Tom Coburn
Senator Don Nickles
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett
Governor Frank Keating
State Treasure Ken Miller
State Auditor Gary Jones
Former Speaker of the House Todd Hiett
State Senator Brian Crain
State Representative Paul Wesselhoft
State Representative Guy Liebmann
State Representative Lee Denney
State Representative Dan Sullivan
State Representative Earl Sears
Harold Hamm, CEO, Continental Resources
Francis Rooney, US Ambassador
Jim Dunlap, Former House Majority Leader
Dan Keating
Former State Representative Thad Balkman
Lynn Windel, Former National Committeeman
Ryan Leonard, Former Candidate for Attorney General
Doug Gorman, Businessman/Activist
GOP Activist Virginia Chrisco

Read more…

BIG REQUEST: Please forward this post to everyone you know in Michigan and Arizona. Thank you!

PHRASES USED BY SANTORUM IN 2008 to describe Governor Romney:

• He is speaking with clarity and conviction…with the heart and mind together!
• There is only one place to go right now and that’s Mitt Romney!
• He knows what it means to be commander in chief!
• He has a depth of knowledge about [national security]
• He was not only curious, but he had some very interesting insights!

…….. And many more ebullient utterances!

Seriously. Mr. Santorum has not been this passionate, even one time in the 2012 race! When you listen to the following interview — given by Santorum on the Laura Ingraham radio show in February 2008 — you will hear that he was so excited about Romney as President of the United States, Laura Ingraham literally had to interrupt him! And why? So she could publicly announce her own endorsement of Governor Romney, right then and there! This is classic. Every Santorum supporter needs to hear how effusive he was in this amazing testimonial of Governor Romney. This entire audio piece is a crescendo, from beginning to the very end! You get the sense that Santorum would have kept raving about Romney for another 20 minutes if allowed.

The last 100 seconds of the audio are the best:
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS EXCELLENT AUDIO CLIP

Following this past Christmas, reports surfaced of a meeting by prominent national evangelical leaders to be held in Texas sometime in January. You will recall this meeting involved over 150 people at a ranch outside Houston, January 15th. The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to caucus and select one of the presidential candidates behind which all voters could unite — in effect, to choose the one “non-Romney” candidate that they thought could best defeat Romney. Fascinating!

As with any caucus, some were prepared to stand and persuade others to vote for the candidate they believed to be the best to select as the Republican nominee for President.

One of those leaders present that day, at the ranch outside Houston, was nationally known and highly respected Mark DeMoss, a prominent Evangelical. Mr. DeMoss stood for Governor Mitt Romney.

Though I have never met Mr. DeMoss and therefore do not know him, I can only imagine that his remarks to this body required a tremendous amount of courage, especially with the understanding that the vast majority of those present were intent on selecting a candidate they believed could best oppose, and therefore defeat Governor Romney! For this one act alone, I have tremendous admiration and respect for Mark DeMoss. I strongly believe that Mitt Romney will be the next President of the United States — if so, I believe that history will hold Mark DeMoss out as a true American patriot in the stature of any this nation’s finest patriots of the past and present.

I am most grateful that Mr. DeMoss granted MittRomneyCentral.com the privilege of publishing his remarks to the group of 150+ Evangelicals exactly one week ago today. When I requested “an editorial” from Mr. DeMoss through our friend, John Schroeder of Article VI Blog, I never dreamed I would receive his remarks to the other evangelical leaders at the ranch that day.

Mark DeMoss’s speech that day is published below in its entirety — unedited.

[Almost exactly one year ago, Nate Gunderson published this outstanding article by Mark DeMoss that received over 2,300 views and 33 comments]

Mark DeMoss founded The DeMoss Group in 1991, and since then he has served some of the world’s most prominent and effective Christian ministries and enterprises. Mark has been involved in shaping some of the largest Christian events and campaigns over the past decade while simultaneously overseeing the growth of his firm. He has extensive media relations experience with both religious and mainstream media and provides particular expertise to clients in crisis/issues management and communications. Mark provides primary public relations counsel and strategic planning for The DeMoss Group. His first book, The Little Red Book of Wisdom, was published in 2007.

Favorite DeMoss Group Core Value > We demonstrate uncommon integrity.

REMARKS to HOUSTON EVENT January 13-14, 2012

By Mark DeMoss

In the summer of 2006 I began a search for the perfect presidential candidate. I’m here to tell you: I still haven’t found him—or her.

But I would suggest, neither have you—because there simply is no such thing. Just as there’s no such thing as the perfect employee, teacher, or pastor. None of us can find another person—including a spouse—with whom we agree on everything.

However, I’ll tell you what I did find that summer of ‘06. I found one of the most remarkable men and families I have ever met or known in Mitt Romney, his wife Ann, and their five sons. Governor Romney was my choice for president in ’08, and he remains my choice today. I didn’t arrive at this decision lightly.

So how did I, as a conservative and an evangelical, land on Mitt Romney? After reading all I could find and talking to people who knew him, I went to see him and told him I’d like to help him. I also told him he couldn’t pay me—ever.

I have a three-part litmus test for choosing a presidential candidate:

1. He/she must share my values (not necessarily my faith or theology)

2. He/she must be competent to lead and govern should they actually get elected.

3. He/she must be capable of getting elected.

So let me talk for a few minutes about values, competence and electability.

VALUES

• First, while I am not interested in (nor worried about) giving platform to Mormon theology, I think this country would benefit from a good dose of Mormon values. Their overwhelming commitment to marriage, family, hard work, honesty, integrity, morality and character is something to be admired and modeled. Frankly, this church’s record in this area often outperforms ours in many ways. (I was reminded about this again just last weekend while watching one of our fallen evangelical leaders starring in ABC’s reality show Wife Swap.)

  I’ve been in the Romney home numerous times. I’ve been with Mitt in offices, holding rooms, hotel rooms, restaurants, cars and planes all across this country and everything about him is real. I’ve gotten to know dozens of his friends, colleagues and advisors. I’ve even attended his church.

  His marriage of 42 years is rock solid, and I’ll tell you this: I don’t worry about waking up one day to a headline about Mitt Romney like we have been saddened to hear about leaders among our own ranks like Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. John Ensign, Sen. David Vitter, and countless pastors.

• Gov. Romney has fought hard for values we care deeply about. For example, he immediately condemned the November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in his state, and then lobbied hard for a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage.
• Keep in mind; Mitt had an 85% Democratic legislature in Massachusetts. This is an important point, which I think is either unknown or lost on many conservative critics. An 85% opposition legislature means bills and measures the governor proposed could be changed at will. It also means measures he vetoed could be overridden at will.

  (By the way, Mitt cast 800 vetoes as governor of Massachusetts—that’s one veto every day-and-a-half for four years.)

  Finally, it means he had to know how to work constructively with people on
  the other side, which is something we could use more of today.

  So when you hear Mitt Romney did something as governor you don’t like, take a minute to find out if he did it, or an 85% Democratic majority did it over his best efforts and objections. A fair and honest assessment of his record requires this.

• Under his leadership, Massachusetts’ public schools began offering middle school classroom programs on abstinence from a faith-based organization.
• As governor, Mitt Romney vetoed bills providing access to the “morning¬after pill” and for expansive, embryo-destroying stem cell research.
• He staunchly defended the right of the Catholic Charities of Boston to refuse to allow homosexual couples to adopt children in its care, and filed a bill to protect such religious liberty.
• National Review political reporter John Miller wrote that, “a good case can be made that Romney has fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting environment.”
• Listen to what one notable Republican had to say about Mitt Romney.

  “In a few short days, Republicans from across this country will decide more than their party’s nominee. They will decide the very future of our party and the conservative coalition that Ronald Reagan built. Conservatives can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines in this election, and Governor Romney is the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear. Governor Romney has a deep understanding of the important issues confronting our country today, and he is the clear conservative candidate that can go into the general election with a united Republican party.”

  Who said this? Rick Santorum did when he endorsed and campaigned for Mitt just four years ago. Nothing in Mitt Romney’s record, speech, or life has changed since Sen. Santorum offered that endorsement, which, knowing the senator, I believe was offered seriously, genuinely, and as a matter of real conviction.

• I have concluded that Mitt Romney’s values more closely resemble my own than any president in my lifetime.

Read more…

Thanks to John Schroeder of Article VI Blog for connecting Mitt Romney Central with Timothy Dalrymple. The following open letter is another outstanding endorsement of Governor Romney as the candidate best suited to represent conservative values as our President of the United States. Tim’s three main arguments below are compelling, especially regarding Governor Romney’s moral leadership.

Timothy Dalrymple is the Director of Content for Patheos.com, the largest religion website in the country, and the managing editor of its Evangelical Portal. He earned his Ph.D. in modern western religious thought at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and contributes to Evangelicals for Mitt. Raised in non-denominational evangelical churches in California, Dalrymple has ministry experience in youth ministry, college ministry, prison chaplaincy, teaching apologetics, and leading overseas missions. Formerly of Boston, he is now a member of Perimeter Church in Johns Creek, Georgia. You can follow him at Philosophical Fragments or Facebook.

See the just-released ebook from Evangelicals for Mitt for a comprehensive explanation of why Romney is the best positioned to represent evangelicals’ values in the White House.

By Timothy Dalrymple

Dear Mitt Romney skeptics, and especially my fellow evangelicals,

Do you remember how it felt when the economy began to implode in those anxious, waning months of 2008? We were coming down to the wire in the election contest, and the candidates we had to choose between were Barack Obama and John McCain. Given the choices, of course, I supported McCain. I still think he would have made a far better President than Obama has proven to be.

But as the very foundations of the American economy were shaking and falling away beneath our feet, and we faced the very real possibility of a Second Great Depression, how desperately I wished that Mitt Romney had emerged from the primary as the champion of the GOP. The presiding President and his party took the heat for the financial crisis, and McCain worsened the situation when his actions and statements inspired no confidence in his stability and expertise on economic matters. The election turned in Obama’s favor when he gave the impression of solidity and strength in the economic crisis.

Romney, however, had something Obama couldn’t even begin to claim: a brilliantly successful career in the private sector, and a world of experience specifically in the financial sector, where our most intractable problems lay. Between McCain and Romney, Romney was touted by the conservative commentariat as the conservative option, and I remember feeling as though the liberal media, independents and even some Democrats who were able to vote in primaries had shoehorned John McCain onto the GOP ticket. If Romney had been at the top of the ticket instead, I still believe we would have avoided the lamentable Obama Presidency; compared to a business titan, Obama would have looked like the inexperienced pretender that he was, and he could not have stood up to Romney’s economic expertise in the debates.

Well, we’re still in the midst of an incredible mess as a country. Our financial house is in shambles. Tax reform, regulatory reform, streamlining government, changes to our energy and immigration policies, will all help. But the character of the American people, the moral substructure that provides the necessary, nurturing environment for our democratic free market, has also disintegrated. Our problem is not merely political; it is also cultural. I am convinced of this with every bone in my body: We need to rediscover the virtues of the free market, and we also need to rediscover the economic virtues. On the one hand, we need a President who understands how companies grow and flourish, who understands how the economy works and what provides the predictability and clarity and the space for innovation that the market demands; Romney’s experience in venture capital, properly understood, is one of his truest strengths, because the venture capitalist learns a great deal about what kinds of ventures succeed and what kinds of capital they need. On the other hand, we need someone whose personal integrity and whose socio-political principles will strengthen the family, enrich the workforce, and restore our collective commitment to responsibility and initiative, stewardship and thrift, diligence and creativity.

I’ve written responses to some common misconceptions about Romney and his candidacy – and a long, specifically evangelical case for Mitt can be found in this ebook. The purpose of this letter is simply to set forth, in broad outlines, why I think Romney’s the right guy at the right time for this country. The Presidency is a position of enormously important economic, global and moral leadership. In all three of those areas, I firmly believe that Mitt Romney is the leader we need. He also, not coincidentally, stands the best chance of defeating Barack Obama — and if there’s one thing conservatives agree upon right now, it’s the profound importance of installing new leadership. As the country staggers toward decline, we need someone who can pick us up, rally the American people behind a positive and hopeful vision, and deploy all of his intelligence and experience and skill to move us toward a better future. That’s Mitt.

Economic and Global Leadership

Those who know him personally attest, without exception, that Romney is an extraordinarily intelligent, boundlessly competent, and thoroughly hard-working man. He built a towering reputation in the business world, accomplished a near-miraculous turnaround of the Salt Lake City Olympics (which was mired in scandal and red ink and on the verge of collapsing), and took an extremely liberal state (Massachusetts) that was deeply in debt and restored it to fiscal health and a budget surplus in the course of four years.

In the business world, Romney specialized in turning around failing companies, and he did so with great success. Sometimes, yes, that means eliminating jobs — but in most cases you’re eliminating jobs in order to avoid eliminating a company in its entirety. You make companies more profitable, more competitive, and thus more sustainable. You eliminate jobs now so that you can keep paying the salaries of those who remain, and ideally add more jobs again later. In other words, sometimes the most pro-jobs thing you can do is cut one job and save the company that employs ninety-nine more.

Read more…