The Clermont Republican Victory Center was the site of an impromptu visit by Ohio’s Senator Rob Portman this afternoon. He spent some time greeting the volunteers, including folks from Utah, Tennessee, and Texas; then he shared some thoughts with the group, and joined in with the phone-calling effort.
Dr. Brad Wenstrup, candidate for Congress in Ohio’s second district, spoke to the group first, noting that there has been a great cry for leadership in the country.
On the heels of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy speech in Virginia earlier today, Dr. Wenstrup said, “We need strong leadership that shows who we are when it comes to national defense. Our troops deserve to know who our enemies are and who our friends are – and so does our CIA. It’s been very sad what we’ve seen of late.” But Wenstrup is optimistic, “I think we have enough people in America that know we want to be exceptional. We want to be the leaders in the world, and we can do it with people like Mitt Romney and Rob Portman.”
Senator Portman expressed his confidence in Wenstrup, recognizing his leadership skills that will help us solve the healthcare problems and – as an Iraqi War vet – will help us meet the challenges of keeping the military strong in a tough budgetary environment.
As Mitt Romney’s debate coach, Portman was pleased with last week’s debate. But the Democrats are claiming that the real Mitt Romney didn’t show up. Portman’s response to that nonsense:
“Here’s the fact: the fact is, the real Mitt Romney did show up. The Mitt Romney that the Democrats were expecting was the one that they believed from all their ads. So they’ve been running these ads in Ohio, and I think it’s outrageous. They are absolutely distortions of Mitt Romney’s proposals, Mitt Romney’s records, of Mitt Romney’s character. If we tried to get away with that, the mainstream media would go nuts. It just isn’t true.”
He went on to explain that the Democrats supposedly had a study that says that the Romney tax proposal will somehow raise taxes on the middle class. “It’s a total sham,” Portman explains. ” All the assumptions they make are inaccurate.” His office did their own study, along with 7 other studies that all say the Democrats’ claims are wrong. Yet the media continues to say this – as if repeating it over and over will make it true.
“It is absolutely false to say that Mitt Romney was somehow a different person. He laid out his tax plan back in the Republican primary. It’s all in writing. People criticized him for having a 58-point plan. It was too specific. Now it’s not specific enough.”
Mitt Romney – successful as governor, successful in the private sector, the guy who turned around the Olympics, the guy who gets it – knows that America is in trouble. Portman believes in Mitt Romney, “He’s a high character guy, and he’s in this for the right reasons. He’s doing this because he believes our country is headed down the wrong path.”
Portman says that we need to keep getting the word out. We have now made over 3 million voter contacts – something that has never been done before in the history of Ohio politics. We’ve already made 5 times more phone calls and 15 times more door-to-door contacts than in all of 2008. There’s a lot going on out there…a lot of effort. He mentioned the Tea Party in particular, and referenced “somebody from the African American community who is working with some pastors.” That somebody is Alan McIntyre of the Frederick Douglass Republicans. (See The Real October Surprise of 2012.)
Portman thinks that the pollsters are going to be a little surprised.
“I think they’re gonna find that Americans do get it…We do have the right candidate, at the right time, at a time when our country badly needs a change in direction. Let’s be sure that we do everything that we can – in our power – to make sure that happens.”
The Victory Center is located at 813 Eastgate South Drive in Union Township, across from Burger King. It is open Mon – Sat 9am-9pm, & Sun 12noon-6pm. This Thursday, October 11, there will be a Debate-Viewing Party starting at 7pm.
Jackson Liberty Letter 
